Yu-Gi-Oh Eclipse (Working Title)
by Kross the Fallen
Summary: Brother and sister, Tay and Kori Ardent, along with their friend Marina, have just moved to Domino City and are invited to compete in Battle City. Little did they expect though that they would be caught up in dangerous game like none they've ever played before. An OC insert fic of the anime series with some new story arcs. OCxOC and most likely OCxDuke. Updates Irregularly.
1. Chapter 1: New Town, New Faces

**I re-uploaded this chapter because I'm real nit-picky about spelling, so I went back and changed a few things. As I said before, please leave reviews about what you think, but keep them constructive please, no flaming! I'll see how this goes in terms of reviews and visitors before I decide if I'll keep this going. So please review and enjoy ^^**

"Kori, hurry it up! We're gonna be late!" A teenage boy shouted at an open window on the second floor of his home.

He stood tall at about 5 foot 11 inches. His dark auburn hair was spiked to one side, with his bangs hanging to the side of his face, revealing his grey- blue eyes. He wore a blue blazer with the top few buttons undone and blue slacks with white and grey sneakers. He also carried a satchel in his hand.

A girl quickly leaned out of the window.

"Yeah, yeah, Tay, I'm coming."

The girl, known as Kori, leaned back into the room and stood in front of a mirror with a scowl on her face. She was about 5 foot 5 inches with an average figure. Her hair was a lighter shade of her brother's hair color and more red in color with messy bangs and some strands framing each side of her face reaching her collarbone. The rest of her hair fell down her back with part of it pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a grayish-lavender. She was wearing a pink coat over a white oxford shirt, a blue bowtie, and a blue skirt. She also wore knee-high socks and black and pink sneakers.

She leaned in closer to the mirror and eyed her reflection from head to toe and scowled even more so.

"Ya know, I agreed to finally stop complaining about moving to this new town, but this new school uniform is a whole 'nother thing!"

"Kori, do you really need to criticize the uniform right now? We're going to be late on our first day." Tay shouted again. A satchel was suddenly flung out the window and Tay scrambled to catch it.

"Kori, be more carefu- wait, what are you doing?!"

Kori had just leapt out the window and was on her way down. Tay was freaking out as he scrambled to anticipate where she would land in order to catch her.

"Ah, ah, wait a second!"

Kori landed not-so-gracefully a few feet away from Tay, tucking and rolling upon hitting the ground. Tay rushed over frantically.

"Kori! Hey Kori, you okay?" He bent over and shook her gently. She quickly jumped up, brushing off her coat and skirt.

"Well that was fun." Kori said as she picked a small twig out of her hair, "But I could do without the dirt and twigs." Tay gave a sigh of relief and a smile.

"Well maybe if you didn't jump out of a second story window and came out the front door instead like a normal person."

"Hey, you were the one that wanted me out here quickly. If you didn't want me to jump out the window you should've said so."

Tay laughed awkwardly.

"Well I honestly didn't think I had to."

"Then next time you better be more specific." Kori said cheerfully before strutting off in one direction.

Tay sighed, smiled then followed after her. As he caught up to Kori, the sun glistened off of two objects, one hanging off of each of their satchels. Hanging off of Tay's satchel was a moderately sized keychain in the shape of a sun. On Kori's bag was a moon-shaped keychain. Both were gold and had an Egyptian eye on them.

About half an hour later, as they approached their new school, they came upon a cross walk. Tay was waiting at cross walk while Kori slowly walked behind. She was walking with her hands on her hips and looking down with a look of exasperation, muttering to herself.

"Last city we lived only a block away from the school, now we live like miles and miles away. Definitely not looking forward to this day in and day out." She sighed as Tay looked back at her with a smile and a small laugh.

"Miles and miles?" Tay chuckled, "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" She glared at him.

"You know what I mean. Anyway, just go on ahead."

Tay simply shrugged.

"Okay then, see you there I guess." Tay walked on ahead towards the school building while Kori continued to complain.

As she dragged her feet begrudgingly across the walk way, she didn't notice a limo approaching from down the street. She only had a second to react and jump back before the limo screeched to halt.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She kicked the front bumper of the vehicle before storming off.

"Stupid ignorant high class," Kori started to mumble along with a few other choice words as she walked off, but not before catching a quick glimpse of the young man in the back seat of the limo.

Seto Kaiba, young CEO of the illustrious Kaiba Corp., rolled down his window to get a good look at the girl that interrupted him on his way to school. He narrowed his cobalt eyes to get a good look at the uniform she was wearing before rolling his window back up and telling his driver to continue on.

Kori arrived at Domino High, seeing Tay waiting for her at the gate. He noticed how Kori was even more frustrated than when he left her.

"Geez, you look happy. What happened now?"

"Some jerk in a limo almost ran me down. And mom said that this place would be safer. Pfft, safer my ass."

"Well anyway, as long as you're okay, we're late for our class introduction, let's go." Tay patted his sister's shoulder and walked into the building. Kori watched him in slight disbelief.

'How the hell is he always so happy?'She gave a slight look of disgust as she looked around the school yard before following after her brother.

After a brief meeting with their new teacher outside the classroom, Tay and Kori were asked to come in and introduce themselves to their new classmates by their Teacher.

"Alright class, this is Taran Ardent and Kori Ardent. Tay, Kori please put your names on the board." Both siblings picked up a piece of chalk and wrote their names on the chalk board.

"Hello there," Tay said as he bowed to the class, "my name is Taran Ardent, but feel free to call me Tay."

"I'm Kori Ardent, pleased to meet you," She said with a hint of sarcasm and without a bow.

She gave the room a quick scan to get a glimpse at her new classmates. A group of them stood out to her. There was a guy sitting towards the back of the room with light violet hair and quiet looking brown eyes, he appeared to be the kind of guy that girls go crazy for, nearby him were two taller guys, sprawled out over their desks, snoring and drooling. One of them had a head full of messy, dirty blonde hair and the other had dark brown hair styled in a large spike at the front of his head. There was also a girl with neck-length brunette hair and blue eyes, she was whispering to another guy. He stood out the most of them all. He was shorter than most high school student with hair three different colors; blonde spiky bangs, and black hair in seven large spikes with magenta-colored outlines. He had very friendly violet eyes. He also wore a strange, upside down golden pyramid with an Egyptian eye on it hanging from a chain around his neck.

'That guy looks so familiar,' Kori thought, 'I know I've seen him somewhere before. And that necklace of his, the eye on it is the same as my moon charm and and Tay's sun charm.'

She continued scanning the room to the other corner of the room and saw a guy with dark brown hair and cobalt eyes that were locked on a book, completely locking out his senses from everything else in the room. The sight of him sparked something in her memory. After a few seconds of thought, she made the connection.

"YOU!" She pointed across the room at the young man, who simply looked up from his book for a second before returning to the pages. Kori's sudden outburst startled everyone in the room, especially Tay who had the misfortune of standing right next to her. Her shouting had also managed to wake up the blonde and brunette boys from before.

Kori rushed over to the guy's desk and stared him down.

"May I help you, or are you just going to stand there gawking at me all day?" He asked her with a tone of arrogance.

"You're the guy who was in the limo that almost ran me over this morning!" The guy arched his eye brow

"So you were the one that caused my driver to suddenly stop and made me late today," He said with a dry tone, "I take it you'd like to apologize for that now."

A vein throbbed on Kori's temple; Tay could tell how close she was to losing control, so he moved quickly. He rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back and smiling awkwardly at the guy. He laughed it off before starting to pull her away.

"Um, sorry about her, she tends to get really wired up. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again."

Kori continued glaring at the guy as she was pulled away. Tay leaned in closer and whispered to her.

"Kori, everyone's staring." Kori blanked for a moment before turning and looking at the room.

"Eh." Everyone in the room, except for the guy Kori had just lashed out at, were watching the event. They all looked dumbfounded. Kori suddenly flushed a bright red before silently going back to the front of the room, keeping her eyes locked to the floor and avoiding all eye contact.

After a moment or two the Teacher had pointed out two empty desks for the two, both we near the back of the room, in the same area as the group from before.

Class went on, nothing new to Tay and Kori, and soon it was the student's break time. Tay and Kori kept to themselves for the most part at first, Tay was sitting at his desk writing some things down in his notebook; Kori was huddled on her seat, flipping through a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Soon, the two were approached by the group of five that Kori had noticed before.

"Hey Tay, Kori." The short one with the multi-colored hair began, "how are you guys enjoying your first day?" The two stopped what they were doing to look at the group. Tay smiled at them.

"It's taking a while to get used to the way things are done here, but it's not too different from before."

"That's good, I'm Téa Gardner, but you can call me Téa." The brunette girl moved forward.

"My name's Ryou Bakura," the lavender-haired boy said with a polite smile.

"Yo, I'm Joey." The dirty blonde said with a goofy grin.

"You can call me Tristan." The guy with the large spike in his hair said. As these introductions went on, Kori kept peering over her cards at the one with the insane hair, still trying to remember where she knew him from. Now it was his turn to introduce himself.

"And I'm Yugi Muto." Kori bolted at recognition of that name, nearly falling out of her chair in the process and dropping her deck of cards. Tay too, had also shown surprise at the name 'Yugi Muto.'

"Yugi Muto?! You mean the Yugi that defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom?" Yugi was taken back slightly at the sudden outburst, but then sweat dropped and laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, that's me. I guess I'm more famous around Japan than I thought."

Joey gave a huge grin before patting Yugi on the back.

"Of course, Yug'. You're the King of Games now," he then turned towards the siblings with an even wider grin, "and I'm the King of Games best friend, Wheeler Joey. I came in second at Duelist Kingdom!"

Tristan laughed.

"You're more like the King of Lame. You wouldn't have even made it that far if it wasn't for Yugi's help."

Joey growled at him.

"Hey, watch it Tristan!" Tay laughed at the exchange and then turned towards Yugi while Kori bent over to pick up her Duel Monsters cards.

"Well you all seem like a lively bunch, of course when it comes to outbursts of energy, my sister's got anyone beat hands down, as you've seen this morning." Téa nodded.

"Oh we've been meaning to ask about that. Did something happen?"

"Duh, it was Kaiba," Joey began, "whatever it was, the stuck up jerk probably deserved it." Kori looked up from her scattered pile of cards.

"Like I said this morning, the jerk almost ran me down with his limo." She turned back to her cards. "And then he expects me to apologize for making me late!" Kori began muttering and cursing under her breath. Yugi noticed the cards on the floor.

"Hey, are you into Duel Monsters too, Kori?" Kori finished collecting the last of her cards and stood up.

"Yeah, both of us are." She gestured to her brother.

"Kori and I have been playing for years, but only against some friends from our old school and in some local unofficial tournaments. We had heard about Duelist Kingdom and wished we would've been able to participate, but of course we weren't professional enough to receive invitations." Kori crossed her arms and gave a smug grin.

"Too bad too, we could've totally dominated that tournament." Joey gave his own smug expression.

"Not likely; 'cuz in that tourney, you would've had to go against me and Yug'. And let me tell ya, you wouldn't have last two seconds." Kori put her arms on her desk and leaned over, narrowing her eyes.

"Is that a challenge I hear Joey, 'cuz I would gladly accept, any day, any time." Tay sweat dropped.

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself, Kori. I mean, I would love a chance to duel against the winner and runner-up of Duelist Kingdom, but Yugi and Joey are tournament-level duelists, and you only came in as high as second in our locals." Yugi smiled.

"Well that doesn't make a difference. We can all duel against each other for fun today after school. They have duel arenas at Kaibaland." Kori cringed at the name.

"Kaibaland? As in that guy from earlier?" Bakura, who'd been rather quiet up until now stepped forward.

"Yes, he's Seto Kaiba, the CEO and owner Kaiba Corp. He made a facility where duelists can go to and duel each other in official duel arenas. It's open to the public." Kori beamed with excitement.

"Duel arenas? They have authentic duel arena's here? I've heard about them, but our town was small and we only had stores with table top set ups."

"Yeah, Kaiba was the one that invented the duel arenas, so it's natural that he would have them there," Tristan added.

"So then after school we can all head over there and you guys can all duel each other," Téa said excitedly, "and besides, it'll be nice not being the only girl in the group for a change."

"So Tay, if your sister always came in second, how far did you make in your locals?" Yugi had stepped up to Tay's desk.

"Well who do you think was the one that beat out Kori for first place all those times?"

"Hey the only reason you won those was because I wasn't all that good back then. Next tournament, I'm taking you down. And that goes for you two as well." Kori pointed at Yugi and Joey. Yugi in turn gave a friendly laugh.

"We'll just have to see about that then won't we Kori." Tay and Kori looked at each other and nodded. Kori faced the group again.

"You're on. See you there."

A school bell went off and the students started rushing back to their seats. Kori and Tay picked up their satchels to exchange some notebooks and their sun and moon charms glistened in the light, catching the attention of Yugi and Bakura.

'What the?! Are those Millennium Items?' Yugi thought. Meanwhile, Bakura's expression suddenly changed; his eyes became more sinister, his facial features became sharper and his hair was slightly altered.

'What?! It can't be! I have already possessed the Millennium Ring, I have recently acquired the Millennium Eye from Pegasus and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle is within my grasp. The other four Millennium Items will soon follow, and now these two items have shown up. This is a rather unexpected turn of events, but a very fortunate one at that. Now I have two more potential victims to drag into the shadows.' He smiled sadistically and laughed to himself.

When school let out, the seven kids gathered in the school yard by the front gates, waiting for everyone to finish collecting their things. Kori pulled out her cell phone and started punching in a few numbers.

"Ok, let me just call our mom and let her know what's going on. She stepped away for a moment to take on the phone. "Hey mom, Tay and I are gonna be late coming home tonight."

"So then Tay, what were the tournaments like back where you lived before?" Téa walked next to Tay.

"Well, only one of the two game shops there ever had tournaments. A close friend of Kori's worked as a clerk there and helped organize a tournament once every few weeks. There were usually about sixteen participants at the most. I'd say that about seven of the usual participants were inexperienced elementary students. Four of them were middle school students that had some experience, and then there was Kori, myself, and three of our classmates. So like I said before, there wasn't a whole lot competition." Tay answered.

"So then you guys really haven't faced anyone as good as Yugi before,' Tristan said, "as for Joey, I'm sure the elementary students put up more of a challenge then he ever could." Joey growled at Tristan.

"Hey, watch it there Tristan. I still may not be able to beat Yugi, but I could beat you any day." They all looked over as Kori was coming back to the group, shouting into her phone.

"No mom, it's not a boyfriend! I mean, some of our new friends are guys but it's not like that. Yeah we're going to Kaibaland. We'll probably be about an hour late, two tops. Ok, bye." Kori hung up her phone.

"Alright, so now that that's all taken care of, let's get goin'," Joey said.

They walked several blocks into town and eventually arrived at Kaiba land and immediately reserved a duel arena. Kori and Tay, who had never seen one in real life, were in awe, especially Kori.

"Oh wow! Amazing! This is so cool!" Kori was bouncing around enthusiastically as a young child. Yugi found her excitement amusing.

"Yeah I gotta admit, Kaiba may be a jerk, but he sure know how to make a dueling arena," Tristan said.

"OK, now you guys take the red boxes over there. Joey and I will take the blue boxes over here," Yugi said, pointing to the different colored duel boxes on either side of the arena. The players took their places and readied their decks. The playing field activated and all players received their life points. At that moment, Yugi's Millennium Puzzle started glowing a little, which soon caused Tay's and Kori's Sun and Moon charms to start glowing lightly too, although no one seemed to notice.

Yugi Muto: 2000 LP

Joey Wheeler: 2000 LP

Tay Ardent: 2000 LP

Kori Ardent: 2000 LP

"This is so exciting; it's been a long time since we all just dueled for fun without anything major at stake," Téa said.

"Alright let's do this!" Kori shouted, "ladies first." She drew a card and placed it in her hand, looking over the cards available to her right now and what kind of strategy she could come up with.

"I'll start things off by playing one card face down then setting a monster face-down in defense mode. Your turn Joey." Two panels in the arena began to glow.

Joey then made his draw.

"Oh yeah, we're gonna win this thing Yug. I'm gonna play Axe Raider in attack mode (1700/1150). Then I'll play a card face down and end my turn." The orange-skinned axeman appeared with a glowing panel right behind him.

Tay drew a card and placed it in his hand.

"I'll set up my defenses by playing the Mystical Elf (800/2000) in defense mode. But that's not all, because I'll equip her with the Book of Secret Arts to power her up. (1100/2300). The blue elf woman appeared with her hands clasped with a spell book appearing in front of her. "Your turn Yugi." Yugi nodded and proceeded to make his draw.

"Look, he's got Mystical Elf, just like Yugi does," Bakura pointed out.

"Good move Tay, but not quite good enough. Especially since I drew this card on my first turn! I play the Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode!" The skull demon appeared in a battle-ready stance, "And since I can't attack until everyone has taken one full turn, I'll end it there and pass it off to Kori."

"OK, I'll draw, then I reveal my face down monster, the Harpie Lady!" (1300/1400) The glowing panel started shimmering and a Harpy appeared clad in a blue skin-tight suit and with long red hair. Joey grimaced.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! This girl plays with Harpies too? It's Duelist Kingdom all over again!"

"Kori plays a Harpie Lady deck, just like Mai Valentine does," Téa started.

"This should be a piece of cake for Yugi and Joey, they defeated those cards before and can do it again!" Tristan proclaimed.

"Oh stop your whining!" Kori snapped. I'll reveal my face down card now, Cyber Shield! And I'll equip it to Harpie Lady!" The armor appeared around Harpie Lady and her attack power increased. (1800/1400) "And I won't leave it there, because now I play the field spell Mountain, which further increases my Harpie's attack! (2000/1600) And now I'll attack Joey's Axe Raider! Go my Harpie!" Harpie Lady lunged forward with her claws bared and prepared to strike.

"I don't think so Kori, because I activate my face down card, Kunai with Chain, which increases my Raider's attack by 500!"(2200/1150)

"Oh no!" Kori groaned.

"Now Axe Raider, attack her Harpie Lady!" Axe Raider, new weapon in hand, struck back against Harpie Lady, destroying her and taking away Kori's life points.

Kori: 1800 LP

Among all the action of the duel, Kori failed to notice her moon charm shining slightly.

"Whatever, I'll finish my turn by playing two cards face down and setting a monster in defense mode."

"What's wrong, Kori? Upset that your little Harpie's gone?" Joey taunted while he drew a card, "if you ask me, when it comes to those Harpies, they're better off in the graveyard," Joey shivered, "Now I'll play the monster Baby Dragon in attack mode. (1200/700) Now Axe Raider, attack her face down monster!"

Axe Raider charged forward and attacked her face down monster. Kori smirked.

"You fell right into my trap Joey! First I'll activate the quick-play spell, Mystical Space Typhoon to dispose of your Kunai with Chain," A small tornado suddenly appeared around Axe Raider and the Kunai with Chain disappeared, "now I'll activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted, to bring back my Harpy Lady, in defense mode of course." (1300/1400)

"Oh man, she's back! Whatever, at least I got rid of your face down monster. I'll end my turn." Joey said. Tay drew a card and placed it face down on the field.

"I'll play a card face down, then summon Gemini Elf in attack mode." The two elves appeared on the field, dancing around (1900/900). "Then I'll attack Joey's Baby Dragon!"

The elves grabbed each other's hands and charged at the small dragon, kicking both of their heels right into the dragon's gut. The dragon shattered to pieces and Joey's life points dropped.

"What?! My dragon!"

Joey: 1300 LP

Just like Kori's moon, Tay's sun charm continued to ever-so-slightly shine.

"And with that, I'll end my turn," Tay said. Yugi drew a card.

"Now I'll summon my own Mystical Elf in defense mode."(800/2000) the elf appeared, mimicking the same pose as the other, "now I'll attack Tay's Gemini Elf with Summoned Skull!" Summoned Skull charged up a lightning attack while the twin elves cowered in fear. Tay smirked.

"Sorry Yugi, but you fell into my trap. I activate Mirror Force, and you know what that means."

"Oh no! All of my monsters will be destroyed!" Yugi grit his teeth.

"Yep, so say good-bye to Summoned Skull and Mystical Elf!" Tay said as Yugi's monsters shattered.

"I guess I'll play this card face down, then, and end my turn."

"Wow, these two aren't half bad. They can hold their own against even Yugi and Joey," Bakura said.

"All right, my go!" Kori shouted as she drew a card. She saw what she drew and grinned widely, "Alright, now that's what I'm talking about! I activate Elegant Egotist to turn my Harpie Lady...into Harpie Lady Sisters!" (1950/2100) Harpie Lady suddenly tripled and two new Harpies sat at her side, one with spiky blue hair and one with short orange hair, "and let's not forget the power boost I get from the Mountains." (2150/2300)

"Now she's strong enough to take out my Axe Raider!" Joey freaked out. Kori snapped her fingers and grinned.

"That's right, and I'm having my Harpies attack your monster, go!" The three Harpies flew forward with their talons bared and struck Axe Raider. Joey's life points dropped.

Joey: 850 LP

"Ok, I'll take my turn then." Joey said as he drew a card, "for now, I'll summon the Flame Swordsman in defense mode!" (1800/1600) The man dressed in red and blue appeared kneeling. "And then I'll play a card face down and end my turn." Tay drew a card and readied an attack.

"You should've done better than that Joey! Now my Gemini Elf will attack your Flame Swordsman!" Gemini Elf charged forward at Flame Swordsman, but Joey didn't look worried.

"Not so fast! I activate the trap card Chasm of Spikes! Which will destroy your elves and give you some damage!"

A large hole appeared right under Gemini Elf as they fell down right upon a bunch of sharp crystal shards, destroying them with Tay taking life point damage equal to a quarter of their attack.

Tay: 1525 LP

"Grrr, I'll end my turn." Tay frowned.

"My go!" Yugi drew a card, "And now I'll summon Gaia the Fierce Knight!" (2300/2100) The dark knight suddenly appeared in a shimmer of light.

"So what? His attack matches the defense of my Mystical Elf. You're still not strong enough to take down my defense." Tay pointed out. Yugi smirked.

"I will be when I combine him with this card, the Horn of the Unicorn!"

A golden horn appeared on Gaia's horse and his power increased. (3000/2800)

"What? 3000 attack power? Now he can take out my elf!"

"That's right! Now Gaia, attack and destroy his Mystical Elf!" The knight charged forward and struck Mystical Elf with his lance, destroying her. "And I'll end my turn."

"Yeah, way to go Yugi!" Téa cheered on.

Kori drew a card.

"I think I'll start by playing this card, Hinotama! And set it to strike Joey's life points!"

"What! Why me?" Joey exclaimed as a meteor appeared and struck him.

Joey: 350 LP

"Nothing personal Joey, I just gotta win. Which is why I'm also playing this card, Fairy Meteor Crush!"

"What does that card do?!" Joey freaked out.

"Glad you asked. When I equip this card to my Harpie Lady Sisters, and they attack your defense position Flame Swordsman, the difference between my monster's attack points and your monster's defense points are deducted from your life points!" Joey started counting on his fingers confusedly.

"That's 350 points," Téa pointed out, annoyed.

"What?! But that means I'll lose the duel!"

"Yep that's right! Now attack my Harpies!" Harpie Lady Sisters struck Flame Swordsman and destroyed him, causing Joey's life points to drop to 0.

Joey: 0 LP LOSE

"Poor Joey. Now Yugi's up against two opponents on his own." Bakura said.

"Sorry Yug, looks like I'm out."

"Don't worry Joey, I'll finish this for the both of us." Tay dew a card.

"Not if we finish this first! I'll play a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Yugi drew a card.

"First, I'll play two cards face down, then I'll play the spell card Monster Recovery!" Tay gave Yugi a confused look.

"Why would you play that card?"

"Why? what's it do?" Kori asked her brother.

"It lets him return one monster on his field and his whole hand to his deck and redraw a new hand," Tay explained.

"Why would he get rid of the strongest monster on the field?" Yugi returned Gaia and his hand to his deck and redrew a new hand.

"So that I can play this! The magic card Dark Hole!" Yugi activated his face down card and a black hole appeared on the field, sucking up all three Harpies and Tay's face down Rogue Doll.

"No, our monsters!" Kori exclaimed.

"All right! Now that's what I'm talking about Yug!" Joey made a fist in the air.

"And now I'll play the Dark Magician in defense mode!" (2500/2100) The purple clad magician appeared, kneeling on the arena.

"Whoa, there it is. Yugi's signature card, the Dark Magician!" Kori exclaimed as she drew a card, "It's impressive, but don't count me out just yet. You didn't think I only had one set of Harpie's in my deck did you? 'Cuz now I'll play another Harpie Lady along with another Elegant Egotist, and bring back the lovely Harpie Lady Sisters! (2150/2300) Now attack his Dark Magician!"

"Wait, stop Kori, he has a face down card!" Tay shouted, but couldn't get her attention. She continued her attack anyway.

"You should've thought before you attacked, Kori. Because I'm activating the Magical Hats!" Four magician hats appeared on Yugi's field and hid his Dark Magician, "Now you'll have to find him if you want to attack him." The Harpie Lady Sisters looked from hat to hat, waiting for Kori to pick one.

"Fine then, my Harpies, attack the middle left hat!" The three Harpie's lunged forward and struck the hat, but Yugi smirked.

"You activated the trap I hid, Spellbinding Circle!" The magic seal appeared around Harpie Lady Sisters and froze them in place.

"Damnit! Fine I guess that's it for now!"

"My move," Tay drew a card. "I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Yugi drew a card.

"Now I'll reveal my Dark Magician," Yugi said as the Dark Magician appeared from the far right hat, "Now I'll equip him with the Book of Secret Arts to raise his attack power! (2800/2400) Now attack Kori's Harpies!" Dark Magician raised his hand and cast a spell that destroyed the sealed Harpies. "And that's it for now."

Kori: 1150 LP

"I gotta turn this thing around but for now I'll play Spirit of the Books in defense mode," (1600/1200) the humanoid bird appeared in a defensive stance. "And I'll end my turn." Tay drew a card.

"I'll place another monster face down and call it quits for now." Yugi drew a card.

"Going on the defense isn't going to help you, Kori, because I activate the spell card Stop Defense, to switch your Spirit of the Books into attack mode!"

"Oh no, now I'm wide open for an attack!"

"That's right. Now Dark Magician, attack her Spirit!" Dark Magician cast another spell and destroyed Spirit of the Books. Kori took a blow to her life points.

Kori: 0 LP LOSE

"Yeah! One down and one to go. Keep it up Yugi!" Tristan cheered.

"Damnit! Looks like I'm out," Kori said as she stepped down from the Duel Arena. "It's up to you now Tay." Tay nodded before taking his turn. Kori looked down at her moon charm as it suddenly stopped glowing, giving it a quizzical look.

"Huh, I could've sworn this thing was glowing just a second ago." Kori spoke to herself.

"I'll draw then," Tay smirked at the card he drew, "I now summon Cosmo Queen in attack mode!" (2900/2450) The tall woman appeared on the field.

"Oh no, she's got more attack points than Yugi's Dark Magician!" Téa shouted.

"Now my Cosmo Queen, attack his Dark Magician!" Cosmo Queen charged a blast energy before shooting it at Dark Magician, destroying him. "And that's it for now."

Yugi: 1900 LP

Yugi drew a card before giving Tay a determined look.

"Well this was fun Tay, but with this card, this duel is mine. I play the Black Luster Ritual Spell Card!"

"Oh no, that means-," Tay started.

"I tribute from my hand the Celtic Guardian and the Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress in order to summon...the Black Luster Soldier!" (3000/2500) The soldier clad in dark blue and light green armor appeared, ready to strike.

"That's one of Yugi's most powerful monsters. There's no way he can lose now!" Téa cheered. Tay was starting to tremble, but Kori offered up some words of encouragement.

"C'mon Tay, you can take him!"

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one dueling against this soldier."

"Now Black Luster Soldier, attack his queen!" Yugi commanded. The soldier raised his sword high above his head before striking Cosmo Queen and destroying her, "your turn."

Tay: 1425 LP

Tay drew a card, then looked over his hand, trying to think up a strategy. After having a thought, he started his move.

"I'll summon Man-Eating Treasure Chest in attack mode. (1600/1000) But that's not all because I'm powering him up with these equip cards! Malevolent Nuzzler, Black Pendant, and Dark Energy!" The three equip cards appeared and raised Man-Eating Treasure Chests power. (3100/1300)

"Whoa that is one nasty jewelry box!" Joey said. Kori cheered her brother on.

"Woohoo, go Tay!"

"Now Man-Eating Treasure Chest, attack his Black Luster Soldier!" Tay commanded. The treasure chest lunged forward and chomped on Black Luster Soldier, destroying him.

Yugi: 1800 LP

"Whoa, he took out one of Yugi's best monster!" Tristan shouted.

"It's time to finish this," Yugi said as he drew a card, "because I activate the Spell-Shattering Arrow!"

"What?!" Tay exclaimed.

"You're gonna regret powering up your monster with all those equip spells, because this arrow will destroy all three of them, then deal 500 points of damage for each one!"

"Wait, hang on a second!"

"Tay, no!"

"Too late, since my arrow destroyed three of your spell cards, you take 1500 points of damage and your life points drop to 0!"

Tay: 0 LP LOSE

Tay smirked as the duel arena disengaged. His charm too, stopped shining.

"Well I guess that's it. We lost fair and square." He smiled down at Kori, who returned with a wide grin of her own.

After finishing their tag duel, Tay, Kori, and their new friends stopped for a bite to eat at a nearby burger joint.

"Man that was so cool! Seeing my monsters right in front of me as if they were really alive? I don't even care that I lost!" Kori shouted while taking a sip of her milk shake.

Joey, who was sitting across from her, hanging his head in despair, groaned.

"You may have lost, but at least you weren't the first one out!" Tristan laughed before adding his own two cents in.

"And to make things worse, you even lost to a girl! You're never gonna live this one down." Kori and Téa both glared at Tristan intensely.

"And what is _that _supposed to mean?" Téa asked.

"Yeah, why does it matter that I'm a girl?" Kori demanded.

Tristan sweat-dropped before quickly turning to face them and laugh awkwardly.

Tay, Yugi, and Bakura, who were sitting at the table next to the others, watched the exchange and laughed. Tay then turned to Yugi.

"Well, that certainly was an amazing experience; I mean dueling in a real dueling arena for the first time and having it be against the top two duelists from Duelist Kingdom? That sure was fun, you live up to the name 'King of Games,' Yugi."

"You and your sister weren't that bad yourselves. You two work good separately, but just need to work on playing off of each other better." Tay smiled.

"Yeah, Kori's never been too good at working with others and my deck is set up more to work independently. I'm just disappointed that you sent my life points to zero before I was able to use my ace."

"There's always next time." Bakura spoke up.

"By the way Tay, I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with those charms that you and your sister carry?" Bakura asked, pointing to the sun charm hanging from Tay's satchel. Tay scooped up the charm in his hand, giving it a quizzical look before returning his gaze to Bakura.

"Oh these? Our father's a photographer that travel's a lot; he picked them up while on assignment in Egypt. I think he called them the Millennium Sun and the Millennium Moon."

Upon hearing that, Yugi and Bakura instantly bolted in shock. Tay noticed this and gave the two a confused look.

"What? Did I say something weird?"

"No, no not at all," Bakura said quickly, waving it off. Inwardly he smiled wickedly.

'I was correct, these two items have at last revealed themselves.'

"Tay, have you and your sister ever heard of the Millennium Items?" Yugi asked. This question caught the attention of the other four and caused Bakura to silently scowl.

"Millennium Items? What are those?" Kori questioned. Yugi held up his Millennium Puzzle.

"It's this, they're golden items from Ancient Egypt that have this eye symbol on them. They hold strange and dark powers and have some kind of connection to the origin of Duel Monsters. I have one, called the Millennium Puzzle, and Bakura used to have one that took him over with a dark spirit called the Millennium Ring. Even Pegasus Crawford, creator of Duel Monsters, had the Millennium Eye. I think that those charms of yours may be some kind of Millennium Items as well."

Kori and Tay looked back and forth from their charms hanging on their bags, and each other. They then started laughing loudly.

"Seriously, you expect us to believe that?" Kori laughed. Tay wiped some tears from his eyes.

"Oh I get it; trying to play a joke on the new kids. Good one guys." The twins looked up from their laughing fit and saw the serious looks of their new friends. They stopped laughing.

"Oh, you're serious." Tay said.

"Look guys, that was interesting story and all, but I stopped believing in fairy tales long ago." Kori spoke up.

"It's not a fairy tale, the whole thing's true," Téa said, "Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to steal the souls of Yugi's Grandpa, Kaiba, and Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba."

"And Bakura's Millennium Ring used to have an evil spirit in it that would take him over and make him do bad things." Joey said.

"Well if that's true than how are the souls back, and where's this so called 'evil spirit' you just talked about?" Kori questioned.

"And what kind of power is your Millennium puzzle supposed to have?" asked Tay.

"Yug' defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom and set the souls free." Tristan started before making a fist in the air, "and I chucked that evil Millennium Ring far off into the forest of Duelist Kingdom, so it won't be bothering us anymore.'

"And as for my puzzle," Yugi began, "well I don't know entirely. But it has a spirit inside that helps me whenever I duel."

"Sorry, I'm still not buying." Kori waved it off.

"Yeah, I think we would've noticed if our charms had any kind of super power by now. I mean we've had these for years." Tay said. Yugi spoke up.

"But haven't you? I know you felt it during our duel; your charms were reacting to the dueling energy of being faced off against another Millennium Item."

Tay and Kori stopped to think for a bit while Tay glanced around the room. His eyes fell upon his watch and he noticed the time.

"Oh crap, it's getting late!" Tay quickly got up, grabbing Kori's wrist as she sipped more of her milk shake, "sorry guys, we gotta get going. See you tomorrow."

"Ah wait, my milk shake!" Kori whined as she was pulled away. The twins rushed out of the restaurant and headed home. Téa chuckled.

"Well, those two sure are an interesting pair. It actually is getting quite late, we should get going to." Everyone started getting up and gathered outside. They said their good-byes and all went their separate ways.

Yugi kept thinking about the twins and their charms.

"Those charms have to be Millennium Items; I just know it. What do you think, Spirit?" The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle appeared in front of him.

"I did sense some kind of power emanating from those two. There is no doubt in my mind that they do possess some kind of connection to the Millennium Items, whether they possess any or not." The spirit said.

"Well, we'll just have to convince them that then."

Meanwhile, Bakura stood in a dark alley, a malicious look on his face.

"Tay Ardent and Kori Ardent…their ignorance of the past will prove most useful to me." He started laughing maniacally.

Later that night, back at the Ardent Residence, the twins sat in Tay's room. They were looking over their decks and their charms.

"We're gonna need to really revamp our decks if we want to ever stand a chance against Yugi." Kori said, flipping through her cards. Tay was laying on his bed, flipping his sun charm over in his hand.

"So what do you think about those Millennium Item things that Yugi and the others kept going on about? You think there's any truth to it?" Kori put her deck away and pulled out her own moon charm, examining it.

"I dunno, the whole thing seems kind of crazy. I mean, ancient mysterious artifacts that have a connection with a modern card game? That makes no sense." Tay smiled and put his charm away.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. G'night." Tay rolled over on his bed and turned off the lights. Kori got up from the desk chair and headed out of the room. She stopped and turned back, by the door.

"Night, bro." She said as her moon charm glistened slightly. She blinked and Kori could have sworn she saw several glowing red threads coming from her brother. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but saw nothing. She shrugged and continued to leave.

"Oh well, I guess my sleep-deprived mind is just playing tricks on me." She muttered to herself.

Later that night, back at Kaiba Land, Seto Kaiba was reviewing footage from the Duel Arena taken throughout the day.

"There have to be some duelists in here that are worthy of my tournament." Kaiba said as he continued to sift through the footage. Eventually he came across the tag duel from earlier. "Hey, that's Yugi and Joey. Who are they dueling against?" He zoomed in on their opponents on the other end of the arena. "That girl, where have I seen here before?" He narrowed his eyes on the girl's image.

Kaiba's thoughts recalled back to earlier that day at school and the new girl that had a sudden outburst at him.

"Kori Ardent and Taran Ardent? Hmmmm." Kaiba watched the tag duel with slight interest. Behind him, sitting on a table, was an open suit case containing a blue Duel Monsters card called Obelisk the Tormentor.


	2. Chapter 2: An Invitation to Battle

**Okay so I got a little impatient and decided to upload the second chapter earlier than I was planning, but hey, maybe with more of the story revealed, I'll get more reviews. Anyway, here we actually start moving into the canon plot and stuff, so enjoy. Don't forget to review. No flaming!**

A few days later, on a day off from school, Kori came charging into Tay's room in a rush of excitement.

"Tay! Tay! Tay! Tay!" She shouted, startling her brother to the point of making him fall back out of his chair.

"What the hell Kori? You scared me half to death." Tay pulled himself up and brushed his shirt off.

"Look what just came in the mail!" Kori shouted, waving two post cards in front of Tay's face. Tay struggled to make out what the cards said but had to stop Kori from waving them to see. He grabbed the one that had his name on it and read it out loud.

"Dear Mr. Ardent, we are pleased to formally invite you to compete in the upcoming Battle City Tournament. You have been chosen based on recent review of dueling archives. Your dueling skills are within the skill range of just what we're looking for and expecting to see in this tournament. For more information, please be at Domino Square tonight 8 pm." As Tay read on, his voice got louder and he got more excited. "Are you serious?! We're actually going to be competing in an official tournament?!"

"Yeah, I know right?! I know it was going to happen someday. This will be our first step towards becoming world famous champions! I guess the official league must've realized how truly amazing we were in our duel against Yugi and Joey a few days ago." Kori bragged while Tay looked over the post card again. "OK Tay, let's get going! To Domino Square we go!" Kori rushed out of Tay's room while Tay called after her.

"Kori!"

"What?" She popped her head back around the corner. Tay pointed over at his alarm clock that read only 2:17 PM. "Oh."

"And do you even know where Domino Square is?" Kori hung her head in defeat.

"No." Tay smiled.

"Let me get ready, then we can go out and explore the town today and try to find the square." Kori instantly beamed back up in excitement.

"All right!" After getting ready, the twins were out and already in downtown Domino City; seeing the sights and taking in their new surroundings. They visited food joints, some same strip malls, and a card shop.

"Awesome, they got so many cool cards here!" Kori said as she looked through a case filled with rare and powerful cards. "With these in my deck, I'll take this tournament by storm!"

"Kori, when it comes to making a powerful deck, you're going to need more than powerful and rare cards. You need different kinds of cards that help make up a strategy." Tay said as he began opening some packs of cards he just bought. He held up a few cards from the pack to explain his point. "Take these four cards for example; Mythical Beast Cerberus only has 1400 attack so on its own, it's not really that powerful, but using this card, Spell Power Grasp, you can add a Spell Counter on it to increase its attack by 500. And whenever another Spell Counter is added onto it, it grows even stronger."

"Ok, so I see your point. And what about those other cards?" Kori pointed to the last two cards.

"This is Magical Dimension. Whenever I'm done using Mythical Beast Cerberus, I can play this card and trade it in for a stronger magician like this card, Magical Marionette," Tay explained, "I'll be adding a lot of these new cards to my deck to reinforce my strategies." Kori took what Tay had explained to her to thought as she bought a bunch of cards for her deck. After they had left she handed her new purchases over to Tay to get his opinion on them.

"So whatcha think? Pretty good lot huh?" she asked proudly.

"Not bad. These cards will work great in a WIND deck like yours." He handed the cards back to his sister, who put them away in her bag.

"Hey Tay, let's go check out that arcade over there!" Kori exclaimed enthusiastically, just like a kid at Christmas. She had never been in a big city before so this was an all-new experience for her.

"Alright, we still have a bunch of time before the meeting time. So let's go check it out." The two headed inside and were quickly overwhelmed by what they saw. There were teens everywhere, the games gave off loud noises and flashed many colors, and the sound of laughter filled the room.

"Whoa, this place is huge." Tay exclaimed. "They have nearly every kind of arcade game imaginable. Oh look, there's Dig-dug, I used to love that game! Oh and there's Pac-man too! And Galaga!" Tay, being the video game enthusiast, was in heaven surrounded by all these classics. He rushed off to play all of the old classic games while Kori sweat dropped.

"And he's supposed to the mature one?" she said as she walked towards a newer section of the arcade with a bunch of newer games.

The air hockey table immediately caught her attention and she headed straight to it. She joined a group of other kids there and started playing. Within a few minutes, she had managed to beat everyone gathered around the table.

"All right, straight for the goal!" She cheered as she shot the puck quickly past her opponents guard and right into the goal slot. The buzzer went off and her side of the table and the lights started flashing. "And that makes 15 wins in a row!" She snapped her fingers as the crowd around applauded her.

"That's amazing!"

"She didn't lose once!"

"Who is she anyway?'

"I don't know but she sure is cute, isn't she?" Kori stood there, taking in the applause before something caught her attention.

"Get lost kid!" A thuggish-looking young man pushed a small preteen boy away from a game console, holding a wad of cash.

"But wait, you cheated! That's the only reason I lost. I want my money back." The kid pleaded.

"No way kid, you lost fair and square. And since you put up this money as a bet, there's no way you're getting it back." The thug taunted. "So go on and get out of here, and never come back!"

"But you were the one that made me put that money up on bet. And you did cheat! Your friends kept messing with my controls and distracting me!" The thug brushed it off."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey!" The thug and his friends turned to see Kori marching up to them.

"What do you want girly? Don't you have some tea party to go to or something?"

"Well I would, but you seemed to forget to give me an invitation to yours." Kori taunted.

"Why you! What do you even want little girl?" Kori knelt down and helped the young boy up. She couldn't explain why, but for some reason she could feel how desperate the kid felt.

"You alright kid?" The boy nodded before Kori turned back to the hug with a fierce look. "You must feel pretty tough, huh? Taking advantage of a little kid!"

"What can I say, the kid had it coming; thinking he even stood a chance against me." Kori smirked.

"Well then I guess I'll have to challenge you to win back his money." The thug and all of his friends looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

"Sorry girl, but this is a man's game." He said while patting the game machine, "There's no way you'll beat me."

"Well then I guess you have nothing to worry about then do you?" Kori said in a cutesy way. "And I'll tell you what, as an added incentive, if you win, I'll do whatever you want for the rest of the day." She winked at the thug. The guy looked up and down Kori's entire frame before a perverted grin spread across his face.

"Now you're talkin' babe! You're on!" The kid tugged on the bottom of Kori shirt to get her attention.

"Wait, miss, don't do it. There's no way you can beat him. It's OK, I don't need the money back that badly." Kori just laughed it off.

"It'll be all right, I can take care of myself." She grinned sheepishly before stepping up to the game machine.

"OK guys, this should be a piece of cake, so I shouldn't need your help." The thug whispered to his gang. "But just in case, if this girl just happens to somehow be good at this game, be prepared to step in." The gang all chuckled evilly. The guy, too, stepped up to the machine and put his quarters in.

"Done with your little gossip?" Kori was waiting impatiently at the game, already having chosen her character.

"Ha, funny." The guy replied, choosing his own character. "Begin!" The battle started off normal, both taking hits back and forth, before Kori started hammering away at the guys hit points. "What? How is this girl so good?"

"What, I didn't mention? I'm a whiz at games like this." The guy grimaced as Kori beat his character off the screen and won the first round. He turned back to his gang and nodded at them. They returned his gesture, knowing what to do.

"OK, round two, girl!"

"No prob. I'll take you down a second time!" The round began and Kori was getting a lead again, but then the gang members moved to right behind her. They started whistling and howling at her; reaching over shoulder to try and grab the controls. Kori was getting distracted, but she still had her head in the game. What really sent her over the edge was when one of the gang members went and patted her butt. She quickly whipped around with her hand ready, and smacked the guy right across the face, knocking him down. "Why you! Don't you ever touch me there!" She was a cross between flustered and furious. The sound of the machine behind her brought her attention back to the game, where the thug had claimed victory for the second round. "Hey! That wasn't fair!" Kori shouted. The young boy spoke up.

"See? He has his friends try and distract you whenever you start winning!" The thug shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, but I can't control what my friends do; they do have minds of their own." He chuckled, joined by his friends. Kori glared at all of them before stepping back up to the game. "OK, final round!" The guy grinned at his friends before starting the third round.

And once again, his friends started trying to distract Kori. One guy started approaching her, but this time, without even taking her eyes off of the game, she stopped back on his foot and tripped him over. He fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Next, a guy tried reaching around her to mash the buttons. She quickly grabbed his wrist and bent his hand backwards. The guy jumped back, holding his hand in pain. Another one tried to reach for her joystick, but as she moved the joystick back, knocking the thug's character down with a move, she also brought her elbow right into the guy's gut, knocking him over, all the while not taking her eyes off of the game. The final guy moved to touch her again, but she anticipated it slammed her leg back, kicking him right in the groin; he doubled over in pain. Kori then soon managed to beat the thug's character in the third and final round, thus winning the game.

"What? How did I lose?!"

"What can I say? You lost fair and square." Kori held her hand out. "Now I believe you owe this kid his money back." The thug was getting really irritated and suddenly lunged at Kori, trying to grab her. Kori quickly turned around, grabbed his wrist, and flung him over her shoulder, throwing him to the ground on his stomach. She then sat on his back and held his arm across his shoulder blades. "Next time you wanna pick a fight with a girl, make sure she's not trained in self-defense.," Kori taunted as she released the guy's arm an got up, grabbing the kid's money in the process, "Now get out of here and don't come back!" The thug and all of his friends quickly scrambled towards the exit.

"I'll get you for this you bitch!"

"Oh, I'm so scared." Kori replied by sticking her tongue out and pulling down her eye lid. "Here you go, kid," she said kindly as she gave the kid back his money.

"Thanks!" the kid exclaimed as he rushed away. Everyone in the arcade that was gathered around started cheering on Kori, who was once again taking in the adoration. Tay, who had finished his escapades of the retro section of the arcade, caught up with his sister.

"Hey sis, what's all the commotion about?"

"Oh you know, saving the day, protecting the weak, becoming a hero? Same-old-same-old." She bragged.

"Oh really? Well if you're done basking in your glory 'hero', we really should get going. We've got more of the city to see and only an hour and a half before 8." Kori gave him a sheepish grin and then joined him on his way out of the arcade, all the while blowing kisses and waving at her 'fans.' As the sun began to set, the siblings started making their way to the heart of the city, and ended up coming across a museum advertising some new Egyptian exhibit on a poster outside.

"Hey Kori, look at this." Tay stopped and brought his sister's attention to the poster.

"What is it?"

"It's some new exhibit on Ancient Egypt that the museum is holding. But that's not the only thing; look at this." He pointed to an eye symbol that was located on the poster.

"Hey. That's the same symbol that's on our charms. And come to think of it, it was on Yugi's pendant too." Tay nodded.

"Do you remember what Yugi was saying about those Millennium Item things? I think it might not be a bad idea to check this exhibit out." Tay excitedly rushed inside. Kori chased after him.

"Hey wait! Slow down a sec' will ya?" They paid the admissions fee and started roaming the museum. While Tay showed must interest in all of the exhibits, Kori walked by with only giving passing glances to each exhibit. As they approached the new Ancient Egypt exhibit, they saw two familiar faces standing in front of a large, stone slab.

"Hey, is that?" Tay started. Kori cut in.

"Yugi! Téa! Hey, what's up?" Kori ran up to the two, but stopped when she noticed something was kind of...different about Yugi.

"Oh hey Tay, Kori." Téa greeted. "What are you guys doing here?" Tay approached the others.

"We were exploring the city and then saw the advertisement for this exhibit. We remembered what you guys were saying about those Millennium Item things and thought it would be interesting to check it out."

"Well that's a coincidence, that's almost the same reason we're here." Téa said cheerfully. All the while, Kori had been eying Yugi, trying to find out just what felt so different about him, and at the same time, why he felt so familiar to her. Not being able to go on without asking, she finally spoke up.

"Hold on a sec! Yugi, I can't explain it, but something about you seems different. Did you have a sudden growth spurt or something?" 'Yugi' gave Téa a look of concern, but she returned it with a comforting nod.

"I'm sorry to say, but I am not the Yugi that you two have come to know."

"What, are you his older brother or something?" Téa chuckled lightly, realizing how someone could make that mistake.

"Not quite." Téa began. "Remember what we told you about the Millennium Items before? Well Yugi's somehow holds a spirit inside that can take over his body." Tay listened with great interest while Kori still wasn't convinced.

"Whoa, that's so cool. I didn't believe you guys before, but after seeing it in person, how could I deny it now?" Tay exclaimed.

"I'm still not buying it. For all we know, you could really be his older brother or something. And are just trying to mess with us."

"I assure you, this is no joke. I am a 5,000 year old spirit that resides within the Millennium Puzzle. Right now Yugi and his friends are trying to help me uncover my past."

"Uncover your past? What, do you have amnesia or something?" Tay asked.

"It's not quite amnesia. It's as if my memories have been locked away, and all I know is that I am somehow connected to Ancient Egypt."

"Which is why we came here. I figured it might be able help him out somehow." Téa added.

"Amazing! Now I really want to find out more about my sun charm." Tay said, holding up his charm.

"Hold up!" Kori shouted. A passing by museum clerk angrily shushed her. She cringed before awkwardly laughing and waving lightly at the clerk. She spoke at a quieter volume now. "This is getting ridiculous. You really expect me to believe all this ancient magic crap?"

"Perhaps I could help shed some light on this situation." A woman said. She stepped out from the shadows. She had an exotic appearance with tanned skin and jet-black hair stylized in an Egyptian way. She wore a gold head dress and a long off-the-shoulder cream dress. But what stood out most of all was her golden necklace, which right in the center, had the same eye as the Millennium Puzzle. "My Pharaoh, I've been expecting you," she said.

"Who are you?" Yugi asked.

"I am Ishizu Ishtar. And I have uncovered many mysteries about you from these carvings using the powers of my Millennium Necklace." Her necklace glistened in the light.

"Another Millennium Item!"

"Like your Millennium Puzzle, this necklace affords me certain powers. With it, I have gazed 5,000 years into the past. To a time when evil sorcerers threatened to destroy the entire world!"

"What? No way!" Kori continued to deny everything. Tay shushed her.

"However, there was one king powerful enough power to stop this evil threat." Ishizu continued.

"And who was this king?" Yugi asked, even though he kind of had a feeling of what her answer was going to be.

"The pharaoh who saved the world was you, Yami. And now the time has come for you to rescue mankind once again."

"Yami?" Tay questioned.

"Rescue from what? How do you know the world is in danger again?" Yami asked.

"My Millennium Necklace also shows me visions of the future, and that same great evil will return to threaten us."

"How will I recognize this evil?"

"I know that your memory has faded, Pharaoh, and that you seek many answers. I also know that a duel monsters tournament is beginning."

"Battle City!" Kori shouted. Yami looked at her confusedly.

"Battle City? What is that?"

"It's a tournament that we got invitations to this morning." Tay answered, "That's another reason we were down here. There's a gathering of the invited participants tonight in Domino Square." Ishizu went on.

"If you win this tournament, you will find the answers you seek." She started walking off. "When you return home, you will find your invitation waiting for you." Tay called after her to stop her.

"Wait, do you anything about these?" Tay held up his sun charm to Ishizu.

"That is one of the Millennium Items. Although it is one of two secret items that weren't meant to be created; the Millennium Sun, and the Millennium Moon."

"I knew it! They are Millennium Items after all." Yami said.

"But aren't these Millennium Items supposed to have magic powers? We've never noticed anything like that before?" Kori questioned.

"But haven't you?" Ishizu questioned back, getting puzzled looks from the twins, "Kori, haven't you ever noticed that you possess an ability to feel the emotions of others? That is the gift of empathy granted by the Millennium Moon. The moon also grants the ability to view the ties that bind people by destiny." Kori remembered a few nights ago when for a split second, she saw threads coming from her brother, and earlier that day, when she felt the young boy's desperation.

"And what about me?" Tay enthusiastically asked.

"You, Tay, have a great collection of and thirst for knowledge and have a great understanding of the true nature of the world and the events and people that live in it. This gift of insight is what the Millennium Sun grants its holder. As well as the ability to create realities through the written word and pull souls into those realities, an ability not so much unlike Pegasus's Millennium Eye."

"Whoa." The twins looked at their charms before looking at each other and then back to Ishizu, who was now continuing to walk away.

"You two will also serve a great role in assisting the Pharaoh with his destiny. But I will let you discover that on your own. Farewell, King Yami." And with that, she walked back down the corridor, disappearing into the shadows.

"Yami?" Téa questioned. "So that must be your name." She turned to the Pharaoh. "Wow, and you were this powerful Egyptian king that saved the world 5,000 years ago? That's pretty major."

"I'd say." Tay added.

"Yes, but I still have so many questions."

"Me too." Kori spoke up. "I'm still not 100% convinced about all the Ancient Egyptian stuff, but I'm open to helping in any way I can." Tay nodded.

"Me too." Yami smiled at the two.

"Thank you. I will gladly accept it. Now about this tournament." The twins gave a brief explanation of what they knew about this tournament as the four teens made their way to Domino Square. Minutes before 8, the four arrived at the Square and were amazed at how many duelists were already there.

"Hey Yugi, there you are!" A woman called out as she ran up to Yugi and Téa.

"It's Mai Valentine," Yami pointed out. The young woman was a friend of theirs from back at Duelist Kingdom.

"Oh joy." Téa said sarcastically.

'Mai Valentine?!' Kori exclaimed to herself. Obviously as a Harpie Lady duelist herself, she had heard about Mai Valentine, who was well-known for her Harpie Ladies. She had been a fan of Mai's ever since she first saw her at a tournament on TV.

"I know you guys missed me!"

"It's a shame we don't hang out more often." Téa once again said sarcastically.

"Yes, it is. Isn't it?" Mai responded, putting an arm around Téa's shoulder and pulling her in closer. "You're looking snazzy Téa, is this a date?" Mai had a sheepish grin on her face.

"We're just friends Mai." Téa pointed out. Mai teased her.

"Uh-huh, sure."

"I assume you've come here for the tournament?" Yami asked.

"Of course. I presume you got an invitation also?" She finally released her hold on Téa.

"Yes, I did. And our friends over here did too," Yami gestured to Tay and Kori behind him. Kori was standing there nervously fidgeting with her hands while Tay watched his sister, amused.

"And who are you two?" Mai asked.

"O-oh well, I-I'm Kodent Arri! I-I m-mean Arko Dentri! I-I mean...I'm Kori, she started off loud and excitedly but ended up quiet and nervous.

"And you can call me Tay Ardent, I'm Kori's older twin brother."

"Tay and Kori just transferred into our class about a week ago, Mai." Téa started. "They even went up against Yugi and Joey in a tag duel! Together, they beat Joey, but then they both lost to Yugi of course. Oh and get this Mai, Kori duels with a Harpie Lady too!" Kori suddenly turned red in embarrassment while Mai gave her an intrigued look.

"Really?" Mai suddenly flung her arm over Kori's shoulder. "Well I gotta say, you've got great taste in cards there kid!"

"Heheh, thanks."

"I'm still using my Harpie's for this tournament, but I've powered up my deck with some brand new cards."

"So do you know who's hosting this tournament Mai?" Yami asked.

"I have no idea. It's a mystery. Nobody seems to know; everyone I've spoken to got an anonymous invitation. But there is a buzz going around that it's someone with a ton of cash and an obnoxious attitude... I guess Kaiba." Yami had a sudden realization.

"That must be why Ishizu told me to enter. If the events of the past are to happen again, I must face Kaiba in this tournament."

"KAIBA?!" Kori had a sudden outburst. "That jerk is behind this tournament? Just you watch you pompous idiot; I'm going to take you down in your own tournament!" Mai sweat dropped.

"Is she okay?" Tay laughed awkwardly.

"She had an unpleasant run-in with him a few days ago and she's still not over it."

"Anyway, nobody knows for sure who's throwing this thing." Mai said. "I suppose we'll find out soon." "It's pretty safe to say it's not Pegasus again."

"Speaking of Pegasus, this is beginning to look like Duelist Kingdom all over again," Yami said as he and Mai started looking over the competition.

"You can say that again, there certainly are a lot of familiar faces in this crowd. Most of whom I'm not too happy to see." Téa, Kori, and Tay were looking around, confused. Téa noticed two familiar people standing a distance away from them and grimaced.

"Ugh, you're right. That's Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor."

"And over there is Espa Roba." Mai pointed out. "They say he uses psychic powers to duel."

"And Mako's here too." Téa looked over to the ocean duelist sitting not far from them.

"Whoa, there's a lot of famous duelist here, Kori. You sure you're up to the challenge of taking them all on?" Tay asked. Kori nodded and made a fist, her expression determined.

"You bet, I'll take them all on, especially that jerk Kaiba!"

"And there he is now." Téa motioned to a large monitor on the side of a building where Kaiba's face suddenly appeared. The other four looked up too.

"Greetings duelists. Welcome to the town of Domino." Kaiba began as all other surrounding monitors changed to show his feed. "But more importantly, welcome to my tournament."

"I don't know which is bigger; his ego or his melon on the big screen." Mai scowled.

"They're both super-sized." Kori responded.

"Let's hear what Kaiba has to say." Yami interrupted them.

"I see you've each received your private invite to Kaiba Corp's very exclusive Duel Monster's Tournament. And you've had enough brains to show up here tonight." That last comment upset most of the crowd and a lot them all started shouting at the screen.

"Well he certainly knows how to make a crowd feel welcome." Tay said sarcastically.

"Being that you are all elite duelists, I've added special rules to my tournament, just for experts. For example," Kaiba looked down and the camera cut to his wrist, which held anew model of his duel disk on it, "you will duel, using these new and improved duel disks." The crowd was amazed at the new gadget. "Another new rule that I designed for the tournament is that before each duel, both players must ante up their rarest card, and the loser of the duel forfeits his card to the winner."

"Forfeit my Dark Magician?!" Yami angrily responded. Mai frowned.

"That means losing even one duel can ruin my deck." Mai pointed out. Kori was shaking with anticipation while Tay gripped his deck in his hand.

"My competition will make Pegasus and his Duelist Kingdom tournament look like a joke!" Kaiba added. The crowd cheered him on. Just then, a wind picked up and the sound of a helicopter could be heard. Yami and the others turned to see a Kaiba Corp helicopter hovering above them with Kaiba hanging out from the door.

"Kaiba!" Yami exclaimed. He and Kaiba glared directly at one another.

"Don't forget to register and pick up your duel disk. Because exactly one week from today, my Battle City Tournament begins!"

"You're on Kaiba!" Yami shouted back.

Elsewhere, in a darkened room, a group of cloaked figures stood around a central figure, who was holding a golden staff with the Millennium symbol on it.

"Battle City, eh?" The one with the staff, most likely the leader, asked.

"That is correct master."

"The world's most elite duelists have assembled for this tournament."

"How very convenient for us." The leader chuckled. "Since so many of our targets have gathered in one place. Now my Rare Hunters, go to the town of Domino at once!"

"Yes master!" The other figures all said in unison.

"It's time to begin the hunt!"

Later that night, Yami, Téa, Tay, and Kori were walking home. Kori was brimming with excitement as she walked a few steps ahead, while Tay walked with the others, discussing the tournament and his Millennium Item.

"It's hard to believe that this charm I've had for so long, is actually thousands-of-years-old and is supposed ancient powers. But beside that, you're really an ancient pharaoh? This is a lot to take in in one day."

"I know what you mean." Téa started. "I had a hard time adjusting to all this magic stuff back in Duelist Kingdom, but you get used to it. But anyway, are you sure you're ready for this tournament?"

"I have to be, Téa. I need to stop this evil that Ishizu mentioned from returning and to uncover my past."

"Well like I said before, you can count on me to help out." Tay said with a grin and a thumbs-up. Yami returned the smile.

"Thank you, Tay. I know we have just but I will gladly accept your help." Kori, who'd been rather quiet up until now, couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted.

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna rock this tournament! Yugi...er, Yami...whoever you are, I'll help you too, but don't get me wrong, I'm giving it my all to take you down!" Yami smiled at her.

"I wouldn't ask for any less."


	3. Chapter 3: The Hunt Begins

**Okay, so I decided that I wanted to upload this chapter too, because 1) it's the last chapter before the Battle City actually starts and 2) this chapter introduces the last OC of mine...well that is a main character anyway. And most likely I won't be following any schedule for uploading the remaining chapters. I'll probably upload what I got over the next few days then upload chapters after that whenever I get the chance. So like before, please review and no flaming.**

The next day after school, and after Joey through a fit about not getting invited to battle City and Yugi explained to Joey why he has to enter the tournament, the group made their way to one of the shops where they could register for the tournament and pick up their duel disks.

"I still can't believe you two got invites and I didn't. No offense." Joey grumbled.

"Well maybe Kaiba just knows talent when he sees it, or the lack of in your case. No offense." Kori taunted.

"What was that?!"

Kori stuck her tongue out at Joey.

"Now, now, Kori, play nice." Tay tried to lighten situation.

"Hey, it looks like the registration office over there." Téa pointed to a small shop nearby.

"Battle City tournament, here I come!" Joey shouted as he and Tristan dashed right through the doors.

"You think they'll let Joey sign up for the tournament?" Yugi asked.

"I dunno, but that boy sure is determined." Téa responded as she and the others followed after him.

"More like hopelessly delusional." Kori laughed.

"May I be of some assistance?" the store clerk asked as the six teens piled into the small store.

"Hello, we came to register for the Battle City tournament and get our duel disks." Tay replied as he, Kori, Yugi, and Joey approached the counter.

"Well then, you have entered the right place." the clerk said nicely. Tay looked at him with suspicion; the clerk was almost too nice. He remembered what Ishizu had told him about his Millennium Sun and the power of Insight that it granted.

'Something feels off about this guy. I mean, he's really nice and doesn't seem that bad, but I just get this feeling that we shouldn't trust him.'

"You four are very fortunate, as I'm down to my last five duel disks,. he motioned back to five boxes stacked up behind him. Tay decided to go with it for now, but kept an eye on him the whole time.

"First I have to make sure that you're qualified to register." the clerk said.

"Okay, I'm Yugi Muto." The clerk went over to computer and typed in Yugi's name.

"Hmm, not bad. You've got five stars, that's the highest rank."

"Where does this information come from?" Kori asked.

"Kaiba Corp performed extensive research on duelists around the world ad compiled the results into a database." He answered as he spun the monitor around to show the screen. On it was a picture of Yugi, well technically Yami, a picture of his Dark Magician, and five stars at the bottom of the screen. "This shows your skill level and the rarest card you've ever played in a duel. To ensure that only the best duelists enter, Mr. Kaiba has gone to great lengths to learn everything about you and your decks." Yugi and his friends all gasped.

"Everything?" Yugi exclaimed.

"Isn't that kind of unfair?" Tay asked. Kori nodded.

"Yeah, that gives him a major advantage against us!"

"That's not cool." Téa added.

"Well as promised, since you qualified to enter, you get this." the clerk held out a box containing a duel disk. "Kaiba Corp's new and improved Duel Disk System."

"Awesome thank you!" Yugi gladly accepted the box. Joey quickly pushed himself to the front of the line.

"I wanna register also, Joey Wheel-" Kori pushed him out of the way before he could finish though.

"My name's Kori Ardent! And this is my brother, Tay Ardent! What does it say about us?!" Kori was practically leaning over the whole counter.

"Hey, watch it Kori!" Joey shouted as he stood up from the ground. Kori just responded by sticking her tongue out.

"Let's see here." The clerk said as he spun the monitor back around, "Kori and Tay Ardent, ah here you both are. It says here that Kori has a rank of four stars and the rarest card she ever played is Simorgh, Bird of Divinity. And Tay Ardent also has a rank of four stars and the rarest card he ever played is-." Tay suddenly cut him off.

"Wow, did you hear that Kori? We both qualify. Pretty great, huh?" He laughed awkwardly. Everyone gave him a weird look.

"Well anyway, here you two go." The clerk said as he pulled down two more Duel Disks and handed them to the twins. Tay sighed in relief.

'That was a close one. I'm just not quite ready yet for them to know my rarest card, especially Yugi. I'll save that for the finals.'

"Ok, now what about me? The name's Joey Wheeler!"

"Ok, just hang on one moment please. Oh I'm sorry you only have a ranking of one star, you need four to compete."

"What the?!" Joey shouted. Kori couldn't help but laugh.

"How could he only give me one star?! I came in second at Duelist Kingdom!" Tristan had to hold Joey back as he threw a fit.

The clerk quickly started typing away at his key board, only Tay seemed to notice though.

"I'm sorry, Joey. It appears my hard drive was malfunctioning and you actually have four star. Congratulations, you qualify."

"Yeah, I knew it! Let me see those beautiful stars!" Joey ran up to the counter and turned the monitor around. "I knew the computer was wrong. That's how I was able to relax and keep my cool while he fixed it."

Kori and Tristan gave Joey confused looks while Tay looked at the smiling clerk suspiciously. The clerk noticed Tay and gave him a warm smile.

"Best of luck." The clerk said, handing Joey a Duel Disk. Joey quickly rushed over and scooped up the box in his hands.

"Oh yeah, come to papa!"

"Battle City tournament, here we come!" Yugi exclaimed as they all walked out the door. As they all left, Tay stayed behind right outside the door and listened in on the clerk.

"Send over the Rare Hunters; the boy with the Red-Eyes just left." The clerk said to someone over the phone. After hearing that, Tay rushed to catch up with his friends.

"Hey Tay, what took you so long?" Kori asked her brother.

"Where's Joey?!"

"He took off already." Yugi started. "Tomorrow is his sister's operation and he was going to the hospital to visit her." Tay quickly took off in the direction of the hospital.

"Tay, what's going on?!"

"Just go on home without me, I'll explain later!" Tay ran down a dark street, searching for Joey, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Damnit, where is he?"

He suddenly heard Joey shouting, and ran down a nearby side street. He came across Joey surrounded by a bunch of guys in cloaks, dueling one of them.

Joey still had all 4000 of his life points with Panther Warrior (2000/1600), Alligator Sword (1500/1200), and two Sheep Tokens (0/0) on the field. The guy in the cloak that he was dueling had 2500 life points, and only a spell or trap card face down on the field.

"Joey! What's going on here?!"

"Huh, Tay? What are you doing here?"

The other cloaked guys suddenly surrounded Tay to prevent him from interfering.

"That creep at the registration shop sold you out! He called some guys called Rare Hunters and told them to come get your Red-Eyes Black Dragon."

"What?! Why that little snake." Joey clenched his fist.

"Excuse me, but if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to our duel!" The lead Rare Hunter said. "I play another Graceful charity."

"Again?" Joey asked

"Yes, a good hunter must acquire strong hounds to replace the weak ones." The hunter said as he drew three cards then discarded two. "So I discard two old cards and place this in defense mode."

"Boring." Joey taunted. "Give me a break. I'm fallin' asleep. How many times are you gonna keep throwin' the same lousy cards down? You duel as badly as you dress. Time to end this pathetic duel so I can get back to what I was doing."

"Don't get too confident Joey." Tay shouted from behind the wall of hunters. "I'm getting the same feeling from this guy as the guy from the shop, only worse. Don't trust a thing he does."

"Don't worry about me Tay, I got this in the bag."

"You should listen to that friend of yours Wheeler. Too much confidence can be a bad thing."

"Whatever. Now for your worst nightmare, the moment I've been waiting for. I summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Panther Warrior and Alligator Sword disappeared in flashes of light and the black dragon appeared in their place, roaring. (2400/2000) The hunter was in awe.

"Whoa." Tay was equally speechless.

"So you wanted to see my Red-Eyes, huh? Guess you got your wish. Now take a look at this. Here we go! Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack!"

The dragon unleashed an attack and the hunter's face down monster was destroyed.

"I think this was my easiest duel ever."

"Foolish boy, I've been leading you through this hunt." The hunter laughed. "Waiting for the right moment to pounce!"

"What are you talking about?"

'I don't think I like where this is going!' Tay thought.

"Careful Joey, I don't trust that grin on his face. He must be up to something."

"What are you talking about? I think you got your coat on too tight; I've been creamin' ya!"

"Wrong! I'm about to finish _you _off!"

"Say what?"

"It's my move now! And it's time for me to unleash the ultimate beast!" The hunter started laying his entire hand out on his duel disk.

"What? No it can't be!" Tay exclaimed.

"I summon Exodia, the Forbidden One!"

"No way! It's all over! Not Exodia!" Joey shouted.

A large pentagram appeared on the field and the giant, Egyptian-themed monster came from within it. Tay was speechless again. Exodia's mere presence was overwhelming.

"It's really Exodia. I never thought I'd ever see it."

"Exodia, obliterate!" The hunter commanded.

Exodia charged a ball of energy and blasted it forward, shattering Joey's Red-Eyes and hitting him directly. The blast caused Joey's life points to fall to zero and made him fall to the ground.

"Exodia's the rarest card I know; how did you get it in your deck?"

The hunter held up a stack of cards and fanned them out. There were two sets of Exodia!

"It's true that the individual pieces of Exodia are extremely rare cards, but Rare Hunters thrive on relieving duelists of their rarest cards. That's how I've gathered three complete sets of Exodia in one single deck of cards. Let's just say we acquire them whatever ways necessary."

"No way, that's not possible." Tay whispered to himself.

"And now we'll take our prize, your Red-Eyes!"

The group of hunters moved away from Tay and surrounded Joey.

"Hey, I'll get it."

"We prefer to take it by force!"

"I said I'll get it!"

The hunter lunged forward and punched Joey right across the face, sending him flying back.

"Joey!" Tay shouted as he ran over to him. "Are you okay?" He shook him but only got groans in response. "Hey, what's your problem? He said that he'd get it for you; you didn't have to go and hit him!"

"Oh, we're sorry. Are you feeling left out?" A hunter came up behind Tay and punched him too, sending him into a wall.

While Tay struggled to get up, he saw the hunters surround Joey and take Red-Eyes from his deck.

'Damnit! It's times like these that I wished I took those self-defense classes with Kori. Oh well, here goes nothing.'

Tay ran at the leader, ready to punch, but the hunter saw this coming and quickly spun around, slamming his fist into Tay's gut. Tay fell to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain. Laughing maniacally, the hunters left.

"Next time, don't get into fights you can't win. That goes for both of you."

Tay crawled over to Joey and shook him gently, trying to get him up, but he had passed out from the pain. Pulling himself over to the wall, Tay sat himself up, breathing heavily.

"Damnit! If only I had gotten here sooner." Tay cursed at himself. "Wait a minute!" Tay remembered earlier when Yugi had told him about Joey's sister's operation and then thought back to a time in his childhood. Kori had attempted to climb a tree, but ended up falling and seriously scraping her knee. She sat on the ground crying up a river.

"Kori, what's wrong?" Tay had asked. Kori suddenly stopped crying, looked up at Tay, but then quickly turned away with a stubborn expression.

"N-nothing. I tripped and fell, that's all." She replied, trying to hold back her tears. Tay knew she was lying.

"Oh, is that so?"

After a few seconds of sitting in silence, Kori started crying again. Tay smiled and helped her up.

"It's okay, I'll take you back to the house and get it all cleaned and bandaged up for you."

Kori stopped crying and looked at her brother before smiling and nodding. Tay then helped Kori get back home.

Tay had always been there for his little sister growing up, but from what he heard from Téa about Joey, he wasn't able to be there for his, not until now, and Tay wasn't going to let Joey miss this chance. He struggled to get up, and when he finally did, he lost his footing several times. He stumbled over to Joey and helped him up, putting his arm over his shoulder. He then started making his way towards the hospital.

"Don't worry Joey, I'll get you there...for you and your sister."

The next morning, Kori sat by her bedroom window, having hardly gotten any sleep. She was up all night worrying about what had happened to Tay.

"Tay, where are you?" Not being to wait any longer she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Yugi's number. After ringing a few times, he picked up.

"Hello?" He sounded just as frantic as she was.

"Yugi, it's Kori. Have you heard anything from Tay or see him. He never came home last. I haven't seen or heard from him since he went running after Joey."

"What?! Tay's missing too?! I just got a call from Joey's mother; he never made it to the hospital! Something must've happened to them!"

'Oh no, Tay!'

"Kori? Hello? You still there?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry"

"Téa, Tristan and I are gonna go out and search for Joey, I'll let them know about Tay too."

"Thanks, I'm going to look too! Bye!"

Kori quickly hung up her phone and rushed down the stairs and out the door, not even bothering to change her clothes. She met up with the others a few neighborhoods over.

"Yugi, Téa, any sign of them?"

"No, nothing." Téa replied. Kori sunk her head.

"This isn't like him, just disappearing like that."

"Joey too." Yugi added. Tristan arrived on his motorcycle. "Well, anything?" Yugi asked.

"I didn't see either of them anywhere. I've checked all of Joey's usual spots and the few places that Tay's been to before. There must be some place I'm not thinking of." Tristan scratched his head.

"Why don't you go check downtown on your bike?" Téa suggested.

"Not a bad idea at all, Téa. We should split up and check every corner of the city!"

Everyone nodded and Yugi and Téa took off. Kori walked up to Tristan.

"I'm going with you, you'll need someone to look out for them while you drive."

"Alright, let's go!"

They rode past some old neighborhoods and some old factories, calling out both 'Joey' and 'Tay', hoping for a response, but nothing.

"Tay! You out there? Please answer me!" Kori was beginning to lose hope.

'Tay, what happened to you last night?'

"Don't worry Kori." Tristan reassured her. "We'll find your brother, him and Joey."

"Yeah." Kori nodded and smiled.

"Hold on tight!" Tristan shouted as he sped up. "They've got to be around here somewhere. Do you see anything?"

"No. But then again, it's hard to see anything with all this wind in my face." Kori kept her eyes on the lookout, scanning both the left and the right. They passed by a park and something suddenly caught her attention.

"Hey Tristan, go back! I think I saw them!"

"You did?!" Tristan quickly hit breaks skid to a stop. Before the bike even completely stopped, though, Kori was off it and ran back to where she saw Tay and Joey sitting up against a tree, both looked pretty beat up.

"Tay!"

"Joey!"

Kori and Tristan ran up to the both of them and shook them to get them up. Tay stirred in his sleep before snapping his eyes open.

"Huh? Kori? Tristan? What are you guys doing here? Joey! Where's Joey? Is he alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Joey said as he came to as well.

"What the hell happened to you two last night?" Tristan asked. Tay slowly stood, with a little help from Kori.

"It's a long story, just get him to the hospital." Tristan nodded.

"Right. OK, let's go bud." Tristan said as he helped Joey over to his bike. As Joey got on, he turned back to the twins.

"Hey Tay," he said seriously. Tay looked over at him. Joey flashed a smirk and gave Tay a thumb's up. "You're alight."

Tay chuckled before returning the gesture.

"Just go be there for your sister." And with that, Tristan started his bike and drove off. Kori was starting to shake.

"Hey Kori, what wrong?" She suddenly started tearing up and sniffling, catching Tay by surprise.

"You idiot!" She shouted, tackling him into a hug, "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Don't ever do anything like that again!" She spoke between tears. All Tay could do was smile at her and pat her on the head.

"Okay, okay. Now what do you say we head home?" She pulled away from him and smiled.

Back in town, Yugi met up with Téa.

"We checked everywhere Yugi, but it's like they vanished." The sound of a horn caught their attention and Tristan drove right by them.

"Hey guys, look who we found!"

"He's got Joey!" Téa happily shouted.

"And look," Yugi pointed down the side walk at Kori helping Tay walk, "There's Kori with Tay!" They ran over to the siblings.

"Tay, are you okay? You guys made us worry like crazy! What happened?" Téa asked.

"I'll get to that later." He replied, his voice getting softer. "But for now, can I get some sleep?" He sunk his head and quickly passed out, almost throwing Kori off balance. The three looked at him and laughed.

Later that night, Tay rested in his bed, recuperating from the ordeal. He had explained the situation to the others. Kori sat at his bedside, talking to someone on the other end of the line.

"Wow, it sounds like you've had quite the adventures already. And after only being there for two weeks? I'm jealous; this town is so quiet without you two. So how is Tay doing, then?" the girl asked.

"He's doing fine. We stopped by the hospital before heading home and he only has some bruises, nothing broken. With some rest, he should be up and ready for the tournament in one days!" Kori exclaimed.

"Oh yeah that's right, you guys are going to be in that tournament soon. So how does it feel, competing in you first major tournament?"

"It's so unreal. I mean, we're gonna be up against some of the toughest duelists around; Yugi Muto, Mai Valentine, even that jerk Kaiba, and I guess Joey's pretty good too. I just wish you could be here Marina. It would be so awesome for the three of us to be competing together again."

"Yeah, I know. Without you and Tay, there's like no competition and I'm the one placing first now. But my manager won't give me any time off for the next month. Apparently it's going to be a busy month, but if you ask me, it's just because he's too cheap to hire anyone else but me." tThe girl called Marina said. Kori laughed.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, I gotta get going. I'll call you tomorrow. Bye Marina."

"Bye Kori." Marina hung up her phone as she stepped out of the train station, her long and wavy golden-brown hair blowing in the wind. She wore a light green, sleeveless, button-up shirt, under a sleeveless cardigan with a very light shade of pink. She also wore a pink miniskirt, pink converse, gray stockings with a light green stripe at the top, gray and pink fingerless gloves, and a hot pink beret. She blinked her light blue eyes as she read the sign in front of her.

"So this is Domino City, huh? Kori's gonna be so surprised." She said as she grabbed the handle of her bag and started walking towards the suburbs.

The next day, Yugi and the others waited around in the school yard, anticipating the tournament that started tomorrow and discussing the recent events that have taken place.

"So you two sure you're ready to compete in the tournament?" Tristan asked Joey and Tay, who both still had some bruises from the other night.

"You kiddin' me, Tristan? Me and Tay here are fighters! These bruises are only proof of our battles!" Joey struck a heroic pose while behind him, Tay just laughed awkwardly.

Kori came up behind Joey with a sheepish grin and jabbed right in one of his bruises.

"OOOOUUCH!" Joey screamed in pain before falling over.

"Ahahahaha! You sure about that Joey?"

"Hey! Not cool Kori! Not cool!" He glared back at her.

"What, you wanna go? Right here, right now? Or should we save it for Battle City?"

"Kori, leave him alone. Remember he got beat up even worse than me that night."

"Hmph, fine."

"Yeah, that's right. You better back down." Joey taunted. Kori glared at him and he quickly shut up. Yugi was laughing at this whole exchange.

"So Joey, did you figure out what you're going to do about those guys that took your Red-Eyes?" Joey suddenly got serious.

"I'm hunt them down and I swear, I'll get my Red-Eyes back!"

"Well, just be careful. We don't need a repeat of last time." Téa added.

"Anyway Joey, how'd your sister's operation go? Did everything go okay?" Tay asked.

"Yeah. She's just gotta sit with her bandages on until tomorrow evening and then she should be able see perfectly!"

"That's great, Joey!"

"Yeah, and I'm gonna make sure that the first thing she sees is my beautiful mug, right here!" He pointed to his face.

"Do you wanna give the girl nightmares?" Kori said, drawing a laugh from everyone but Joey.

"Well I see you haven't changed in the two weeks you've been gone."

Kori quickly spun around on her heal and saw Marina standing by the school gates.

"Marina! What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't get off work! When did you get here?" Kori ran at her best friend and embraced her in a hug.

"Let's see, in order; I came to see my best friend kick butt in Battle City of course, I lied about work so that I could surprise you, and I got here last night, literally right after I got off the phone with you. I'm staying with my cousin right now for the next few days, but who knows, it might turn into something permanent."

"So you're saying that you might end up living here too?! That would be so cool!"

Joey quickly popped his way into the conversation, pretending to cough.

"So, Kori, you gonna introduce us to this pretty little friend of yours?"

"Oh right, everyone, this is my best friend Marina, and Marina, this is-"

"Wait, let me guess, you're Yugi, you're obviously Téa, you're Tristan, and you must be...Zoey?" Joey fell to the ground while Marina and Kori burst into laughter.

"Wow, you were right, it is fun to mess with him. I'm just kidding, it's nice to meet you Joey."

"Well it's nice to meet you Marina. Are you liking Domino City so far?" Yugi asked.

"Oh yeah, this place is amazing. Nothing like back home."

"Marina?"

A red streak quickly formed a way across Marina's face as Tay made his way to the front of the group.

"Um, hey there, Tay. It's nice to see you again. You feeling okay? I heard about what happened." Marina looked down the whole time, avoiding eye contact.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. It's nice to see you too." By now Tay was as red as Marina was and he too was avoiding eye contact. Joey and Tristan looked back and forth between the two of them before giving each other a knowing grin. They grabbed Tay and turned him around.

"So Tay, is there something you want to tell us?" Tristan teased.

"Yeah, c'mon buddy. What's going on between you two?" Joey asked while playfully elbowing Tay in the side.

"N-nothing, nothing at all."

Yugi and Téa giggled as Tay and Marina both grew even redder.

"Aw, how cute." Téa said. Kori was making fake vomiting sounds.

"So anyway, Marina, you got plans for dinner tonight?"

"Nope, I'm completely free."

"Great! Then you're coming with us! You've got to try the milkshakes at this one burger place."

Kori grabbed Marina's arm and led the group out of the school grounds and towards the nearest burger joint.


	4. Chapter 4: Goblins and Gangs

**Okay, so here's chapter 4, where Battle City begins. From here up unto the finals, all the duels that my OCs take part in will be taken from duels in Yugioh GX and slightly altered to go the way I intend them to turn out. Please review, favorite, or follow if you're interested in this story, just no flaming please.**

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The big day finally here; the day that Battle City started. For once, Kori was up early that morning, making some last minute tunes ups to her deck and deciding what to wear for the tournament. She decided on a dark purple, spaghetti-strap corset tank top with black trim, dark denim skinny jeans, knee-high gray boots, and black biker gloves along with a black choker that had a purple amethyst on it. She also wore her hair down but with a black headband. Tay was wearing a black, sleeveless hooded vest over a gray tee-shirt, dark-colored jeans with a chain on one side, black converse sneakers, and a pair of black wrist bands with blue stripes. They both wore their Millennium Items as key chains, clipped to their belts. Marina stood in front of their house waiting, wearing the same thing as yesterday. Tay was the first one out of the house.

"Morning Marina."

"Morning Tay, you look nice today."

"Really? Thanks. Ya know I gotta try to look my best for my first big tournament."

"That's true." The two of them stood there in awkward silence for bit a before Marina spoke.

"I, uh, wonder what's taking Kori so long."

"Well knowing her, she should be jumping down at any second now."

"Jumping?"

"You'll see." True to what Tay had said, Kori was suddenly standing out her window.

"Hey Marina, catch!" She tossed her Duel Disk out the window as Marina scrambled to catch it.

"Hey, wait! You can't seriously be thinking about-" Kori had leaped out of her window and was falling to the ground. Tay watched on with a smirk while Marina was freaking out.

"Oh my god! Tay don't just stand there, do something!" Marina shouted, but the next thing she knew, Kori was standing right behind her, taking her Duel Disk back.

"Huh?!"

"Kori's been doing that almost every day now when she leaves the house. She's managed to start jumping right to stick the landing almost perfectly." Marina sighed.

"Some things never change."

They took off soon after, heading straight for the heart of Domino City, where they would meet up with the others. Upon arriving, they saw Yugi standing with Mai.

"Hey Yugi, Mai!" Tay called out. "Did we keep you waiting long?"

"Nope, not at all." Yugi replied.

"If anything, Joey's the one making us wait long." Mai added. "Hmm? Who are you?"

"Oh Mai, this is Marina." Kori gestured to Marina behind her. "She's my best friend from back home. She's come to watch me and Tay compete in the tournament."

"Well it's nice to meet you Marina."

"You too, Mai."

"Now I wonder whose butt I should kick first in the tournament." Mai pondered.

"Yugi! I thought I'd see you buzzing around!" An obnoxious voice called out.

"Well if it isn't Rex Raptor and Weevil." Mai pointed out as the two duelists approached. "I thought I smelled something."

"I'll never forget how you played me like a chump-asaurus at Duelist Kingdom, Mai!" Rex shouted. "Now it's payback time."

"Wow. He really likes using dinosaur puns, doesn't he?" Marina asked. Yugi laughed awkwardly.

"You don't know the half of it."

"Hehehehehe! And Yugi, next time we duel, you won't be so lucky." Weevil taunted. "My deck is infested with rare and powerful insects! Ehehehehe!"

"Gross." Marina grimaced.

Suddenly, an older young man was behind Weevil and had him in a head lock. It was Mako Tsunami, the ocean duelist.

"Those are large words coming from such a small guppy." he said.

"Mako Tsunami?" Yugi pointed out.

"If anyone will be making waves, it will be me!" Mako released Weevil from his hold.

"You think you'll win this tournament?!"

"Of course, there's nothing that can withstand my mighty denizens of the deep!"

"Your sardines will be crushed by my dino-horde." Rex chimed in.

"Don't be so sure. My brand new Fortress Whale card is much mightier than your Twin-Headed King Rex."

"Well I have a monster far superior to be Great Moth." Weevil taunted. "But don't think I'll tell you what it is." Mako suddenly grabbed Mako and started shaking him furiously.

"Well maybe I can just shake it out of you, Weevil!" Tay, Kori, and Marina just watched the whole exchange, dumbfounded.

"Well they certainly have some...'interesting' friends." Tay said.

"At least they have unique personalities." Marina offered.

"What a bunch freaks." Kori said point blank.

While this was going on, the Rare Hunter from the other night sat a few feet away at a Café, viewing a computer with all of the duelists' stats.

"Heh, their rare cards will make fine additions to my master's collection. The only question is: which card should I acquire first."

After arguing a bit more, Mako, Rex, and Weevil ran off in different directions. Mai watched them all with disgust as ran, before deciding to take off on her own too.

"Yugi, I think I'll head off. Remember, next time we meet, we're rivals. And the same goes for you too, Tay and Kori." Yugi nodded.

"Right." he laughed. Mai then took off.

"See ya round Mai." Kori called out.

"Well Yugi, since everyone else is heading out to scout the area, I think we should too." Tay said.

"Okay then, best of luck to the both of you."

"Yeah and right back at you too, Yugi." Kori replied. "Cuz when it comes to the finals, I plan on taking you on!"

"Yeah right! As if you could beat Yugi, he's the King of Games." Marina said. Kori glared at her as they all walked off.

"What, you don't think I could take him?"

"Nope." Tay added.

"What?! Some brother you are!"

"Anyway, Kaiba should be announcing the tournament soon, so we should probably get ready to start at any moment now."

"Good point."

"Greetings duelists, and welcome to Battle City." Kaiba's voice came on across the city like a loud speaker. A large shadow started covering the streets of Domino. The trio looked up and gasped at what they saw.

"What the?!"

"Is that a blimp?!"

"Give you one guess who's it is." Kori snarled. Appearing on a large screen attached to the blimp, Kaiba gave an overview of the tournament, the rules, the duel disks, the ante rule, how you need six locator cards to make it to the finals, and how only 10 competitors can make it to the finals. After all that, Kaiba gave the word and the tournament officially began.

"Okay girls, I think I'm taking off now too." Tay said. Marina looked disappointed.

"Really? You're leaving us Tay?"

"Yeah. Cuz right now, Kori and I are rivals. It wouldn't be right to hang around with her and watch her strategies." Kori nodded in agreement.

"Exactly what I was thinking? It wouldn't be fair if I saw all of your new cards during the tournament before we face off. So until then, don't go losing to anyone." She put out her hand.

"No chance of that happening." He grabbed her hand for a moment before taking off.

"Well, I guess it's time to go find my first opponent."

Kori and Marina roamed the city for a bit, searching for someone to challenge Kori to a duel. But every duelist they came across just stood there and avoided eye contact with her.

"Pft, what's with all these guys? They're supposed to be the toughest duelists? Not one of them has even tried challenging me." Kori plopped herself down on a bench ans Marina leaned on it next to her.

"Why don't you challenge someone then? It'll be a lot quicker than waiting around for someone else to come strolling up and asking for a duel." Kori sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's get going and find someone." Kori got up and was ready to walk off when someone stopped her.

"You! I want revenge for how you humiliated me at the arcade!" The thug from earlier in the week was standing right in front of Kori with a duel disk on his arm. He had a determined expression.

"Kori, you know this weirdo?" Kori looked at the guy for a while, trying to remember him.

"Nope, never seen him before in my life."

"What?! Are you saying you forgot about me?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you." Kori laughed it off. "You want a duel? You got one!" She activated her duel disk and took a battle-ready stance. The thug also activated his duel disk. They both drew five cards and gained 4000 life points.

"Go Kori! Take this creep down!" The thug smirked.

"Since I'm such a gentleman, I'll let the lady go first!"

"So then go already." Kori taunted as the thug drew a card.

"Very funny." He wasn't amused. "I summon Giant Orc in attack mode! (2200/0) You're turn!"

"My move." Kori drew a card. "I'll start by discarding my Harpie Queen to the graveyard in order to add this card to my hand." Kori picked a card from her deck and reshuffled it. "Harpie's Hunting Ground, and then I'll activate it!"

"What does that do?" The thug asked as the surrounding area turned into a mountainous field. Kori smirked

"With this field spell out, every winged-beast type monster I play gains 200 attack points. But for now, I'll banish my Harpie Queen in the graveyard in order to special summon Silpheed in defense mode. (1700/700) And then I'll summon Harpie Lady in defense mode, who gets a power-up thanks to the field. (1500/1600) And this specific Harpie increases the attack of all my WIND monsters by 300! (Silpheed 1900/900) (Harpie Lady 1800/1900) Then I'll end my turn."

"Is that the best you can do?" The thug drew a card. "Now Giant Orc, attack her Silpheed!" The orc swung its bone club and smashed Silpheed, destroying it.

"Thank you for that. When you destroy Silpheed, you have to discard 1 random card from your hand!" A gust of wind picked up and blew a card out of the thugs hand and right into his graveyard. "And I know that whenever Giant Orc attacks, he switches to defense mode!"

"Well that's usually the case, but since I equip Giant Orc with Second Goblin, I can switch him back into attack mode!" A small goblin appeared behind Giant Orc, barking orders at him, "Your turn." Kori drew a card.

"Perfect! I equip Harpie Lady with Cyber Shield, which raises her attack even more. (2300/1900) So now I'll switch Harpie Lady to attack mode and destroy your Orc!"

"Oh no!" Harpie Lady jumped forward and slashed Giant Orc and destroyed him and the Second Goblin.

Thug: 3900 LP

"Alright! You go girl!" Marina cheered on.

"Your move!" The thug drew a card.

"Now I'll summon Goblin King in attack mode. (0/0)"

"Why would you summon a monster with 0 attack points?"

"And now, I'll special summon three Half Goblins in defense mode by discarding three warrior-type monsters from my hand. And my Goblin King gains 1000 attack points for every fiend-type monster on the field! (3000/0) Now go, attack her Harpie Lady!" The Goblin King struck the Harpie, destroying her.

Kori: 3300 LP

Kori drew a card.

"First I'll summon Harpie Channeler to the field in attack mode! And don't forget, she gets a power up with my hunting ground! (1600/1500) Then I'll use her effect. By discarding a Harpie card from my hand, I can special summon any Harpie card from my deck that I want. And I chose Harpie's Pet Dragon! And since Harpie Channeler counts as a Harpie Lady card, my dragon gets a power up! (2300/2800)"

"That's not gonna help you!"

"It will when I play this card, Lightning Vortex!"

"No!"

"Yes! By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy all face-up monsters on your field. So say good-bye to all of your Goblins," Kori said as all of the thug's goblins were struck by lightning and disappeared, "And now you're wide open to attack! Harpie Channeler attack!" The channeler shot a burst of wind from her staff.

Thug: 2300 LP

"And now my dragon, attack him and finish this duel!"

Harpie's Pat Dragon shot a fireball at the thug, throwing him back and depleting his life points.

Thug: 0 LP LOSE

"And with that, you lose!" Kori snapped her fingers as the holograms all disappeared. Marina ran up to her and gave her a high five.

"All right! That's my girl!"

Kori walked over to thug and stood right in front of him as he stood up.

"Since I won, hand over your locator card and your rarest card." She demanded as she held out her hand.

"Yeah right!" The thug jumped back. "If you think I'll accept defeat from you again, you're crazy!" Marina walked over to the two of them.

"Give it up man. You lost fair and square and the rules say you have to give your locator card up to Kori."

"Well I'm playing by my own rules." He snapped his fingers and a whole gang of thugs surrounded the two girls suddenly. Marina moved closer to Kori and grabbed her arm.

"Oh man, what do we do now?" Kori just glared at the leader.

"Haha, what are you gonna do now little girl?"

"Why don't you just admit defeat and walk while you still have your pride? Well what's left of it anyway?"

"Not a chance!" The leader lunched forward, readying a punch straight at Kori. Marina flinched while Kori just stared the guy down. Suddenly, a die shot out from seemingly nowhere and struck the guy right in the forehead.

"What was that?" He rubbed his forehead and turned around. A guy stood there, bouncing dice in his hand.

"I think the ladies asked you to walk away." He had emerald eyes showing underneath long, jet-black hair tied in a ponytail. He wore a red vest and a black sleeveless shirt, red pants, black and red sneakers, and a black and read head band. He also wore several pieces of gold jewelry and dice earrings.

"What do you want pretty boy?"

"Like I said, the ladies asked you to leave."

"Just stay out of this! This has nothing to do with you!"

"Oh but I'm afraid it does. You see, whenever there's a lovely girl being threatened, it's my job to step in and save the day." The guy winked at Kori, who grimaced and slightly blushed.

"Wow, what a cutie!" Marina exclaimed.

"What's with this guy? Weirdo." Kori questioned.

"Well you're gonna wish you never messed with us." The thug started. "Get him boys!" The gang started charging forward, but the guy didn't seem afraid. In fact, he seemed just the opposite. His cocky grin became a fierce scowl as he started flicking dice with great power at the gang members. Under the barrage of dice, the gang members started running away, covering their heads for protection.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?! Get back here you cowards!" The thug commanded, but none of them returned.

"Looks like all of your 'friends' abandoned you." The guy took a step forward. The thug backed away in fright, but ended up backing into Kori. She tapped his shoulder.

"Huh?" He turned around.

"Boo!" Kori shouted as she decked the thug right in the face, knocking him down and out.

"Well he got what he deserves." Marina said as she walked over the the thug's unconscious body and fished out his locator card from his jacket.

"Here ya go Kori."

"Thanks. Now with this, I'm one step closer to reaching the finals!"The guy then walked over to the two girls.

"Finals? I take it you girls are in the Battle City tournament?"

"Well she is, I'm just a cheerleader. Thank you by the way, I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't shown up. I'm Marina by the way, and this is-"

"Kori Ardent." The guy interrupted, confusing the girls.

"How do you know my name?" Kori stared at the guy, trying to recognize his face. "He wait a minute! Aren't you in my class? Yeah, you're that guy that the girls are always going crazy over. It's...uh...something with a D, right?" The guy smirked.

"It's Devlin…Duke Devlin. I'm flattered such a cute girl remembered me." He gave Kori a wink. She had a slight blush that she tried to hide, but Marina noticed.

"W-well, whatever. Thanks again, but we gotta go." Kori pushed past Duke, grabbing Marina's arm and taking off.

"Hey, wait up a sec." Duke called after them. "As a gentleman, it's my duty to protect young maidens such as yourselves."

"Oh my." Marina was enjoying this.

"Oh brother. Gentleman isn't exactly the word I would use. More like playboy."

"Ouch, that hurts Kori. And here I thought we had a spark." Duke said flirtatiously.

"So you're not gonna leave, are you?"

"Not likely."

"Fine whatever." Kori started storming off, followed by Duke. Marina watched the two and giggled impishly before following after them.


	5. Chapter 5: Attack from the Deep Sea

**Okay so I've been swamped with assignments in my all of my classes and studios, which has been taking up a lot of my time, but I found enough time to sneak this in. Like always please review, but keep it constructive. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but I really enjoy getting feedback from readers, it helps me with things I need to work on in future chapters. So please comment about the things you liked, things you didn't like so much, and what you think of the story and my OCs, just no flamming.**

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Tay roamed the streets of Domino, scouring for an opponent anywhere.

"Where is everybody? You'd think that there'd be more duelists everywhere with the tournament going on. Huh, what's going on over there?"

"Tay walked past an alley leading to the next street over and saw a large group of people gathered around. He decided to go take a look and saw a familiar face when he pushed through towards the front.

"Hey Téa, what's going on?"

"Oh, hey Tay. Joey just won his first duel and locator card of Battle City."

"Wow, really?"

"Yes, it was quite an amazing duel. Joey played wonderfully." The old man that was with Téa said.

"Huh?"

"Oh, Tay, you haven't met him yet, have you? This is Mr. Muto, Yugi's grandpa. He taught Yugi everything he knows about Duel Monsters."

"Hello." The old man smiled at Tay.

"Nice to meet you."

Joey walked over to the three, holding his head up in pride.

"Yo, Tay. How's it going?" He gave Tay a high-five.

"Nothing much. I just heard you won your first Battle City duel."

"Oh yeah! Check it out." Joey held out his new Jinzo card and locator card.

"Whoa, cool. It's too bad you didn't get to take out that creep in the cape from the other night first."

"Don't worry about it. Yug' took that loser out in the very first duel of Battle City."

"What? So you and Yugi both have won a locator card already?!" Tay sounded surprised before looking very disappointed. "Aw man, I just got a call from Marina and it Kori just won her first duel. I haven't even been in a duel yet."

"Don't worry man, I'm sure you'll find a challenge soon and take them out easily!"

"Yeah."

"Well guys, we gotta get going." Téa started. "We've got to go find Yugi; I really want to see Yugi duel in the tournament."

"Yeah, and I gotta get looking for my next opponent."

"And I need to find my first opponent."

"Well good luck Tay, Joey. Let's go Mr. Muto." Téa grabbed Mr. Muto's hand and took off in one direction as Joey took off in the opposite.

"Okay, time to start looking."

Tay ran in the opposite direction of which he came and searched for an opponent. A sudden cry for help caught his attention.

"What was that?!" He ran down a nearby street and saw a group of Rare Hunters surround a young duelist, threatening to steal his rarest cards.

"Rare Hunters! Time to get some payback for the other night. Hey you, hunters!" The group turned to see Tay quickly approaching. While they were distracted by Tay, the kid took off.

"Leave that kid alone! If you want someone to duel, then duel me!" Tay activated his duel disk.

"Hey, I know you. You're that punk kid that tried interrupted our hunt the other night." The Hunter said as he activated his duel disk.

"You're one of the hunters from the other night?! This works out perfectly then. I can pay you back for what you did to me and my friend the other night. Let's duel!"

"Since you're so eager to fall to our hunt, I'll let you go first."

"How kind of you." Tay said sarcastically as he drew a card. "I'll start by summoning Gemini Elf in attack mode. (1900/900) And then I lay two cards face down. Your move." The hunter drew a card.

"I activate A Legendary Ocean!" The area around them became submerged in water and a crumbling coliseum appeared around them. "Now every water monster in our hands or on our field have their level reduced by 1 and gain 200 attack and defense! So thanks to that, I can summon Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness in attack mode, without making a tribute! (2300/1400) Next I'll set a card and have my Orca attack your elf!" The giant Orca shot missiles targeting the elves, but Tay smirked.

"You activated my trap card, Magic Cylinder! This absorbs your attack and sends right back at your life points!"

"Oh no!" The Rare Hunter shouted as the missiles went into one cylinder and came shooting out of the other, aimed right at him.

Rare Hunter: 1700 LP

"You'll pay for that! Just make your move!" Tay drew a card.

"I'll boost the power of my Gemini Elf with Mage Power! With this, they gain 500 attack and defense for every spell and trap card on my field. And just in case you can't count, that makes a 1000 attack bonus! (2900/1900) Now Gemini Elf, attack!" The elf sisters jumped forward and landed a double kick right the whale, destroying it.

Hunter: 1100 LP

"Take your turn." The hunter drew a card.

"I'm activating Cursed Waters Level 3. With this card I can summon more than one monster per turn as long as their total level is no more than 3. So I summon Torpedo Fish (1000/100) and Cannonball Spearfish (1000/1000) in defense mode. And since A Legendary Ocean in out, they are both unaffected by spell cards. So they don't get the power boost, but you can't target them either. Your turn!" Tay drew a card and smirked.

"Gemini Elf, attack his Torpedo Fish!" The elves attacked and destroyed the Torpedo Fish. "And with that, I'll end my turn." The hunter drew a card.

"I activate The Shallow Grave, which allows both of us to special summon a monster back from our graveyards in defense mode, so I special summon Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness! (2300/1600) But since you don't have any monsters in your graveyard, you can't summon anything. Now first I tribute my Cannonball Spearfish to allow my Orca to destroy your face-down card!"

"No, my Spellbinding Circle!"

"And then I'll tribute my Orca in order to summon Levia-Dragon- Daedalus. (2800/1700) And now by sending A Legendary Ocean to the graveyard, Daedalus is able to destroy all other cards on the field!" (Daedalus 2600/1500) A rush of water filled the field and washed away Mage Power and Gemini Elf. "Now Daedalus, attack his life points directly!"

Tay: 1400 LP

"Your turn." Tay drew a card.

"First I play the field spell, Magic Citadel of Endymion," A large, church-like tower and fortress appeared, then I'll play the Swords of Revealing Light, to keep you from attacking for three turns. And since I played a spell card, my Magic Citadel gets a Spell Counter." A light on the tower light up.

"Spell Counter? What does that do?"

"You'll see. Now I play one card face down and end my turn." The Rare Hunter drew a card.

"Since I can't attack, I'll pass this turn." Tay drew a card.

"I summon the Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode. Then I'll play Double Spell, which not only gives both my Citadel and my magician a Spell Counter, it lets me take the effect of your Shallow Grave, now we each get to special summon a monster from our graveyards! And I pick Gemini Elf. (1900/900)" Gemini Elf reappeared on Tay's field while Torpedo Fish reappeared on the hunter's field.

"Then I activate Magical Blast, which adds even more Spell Counters to my cards, and then deals you 200 points of direct damage for every Spellcaster monster on my field!"

Hunter: 700 LP

"And now I'll tribute my Skilled Dark Magician with two Spell Counters, and remove one Spell Counter from my Citadel, in order to special summon the Dark Magician!" (2500/2100)

"What?! I thought only Yugi Muto had the Dark Magician!" The hunter looked on as the Dark Magician appeared, although this one wasn't the purple color of Yugi's magician. He had pale white skin with a bluish tint, stark-white hair, and his armor was black with white trim.

"Now Dark Magician, attack his Torpedo Fish!" The Dark Magician cast a spell and destroyed the fish, "And now since a Spellcaster monster declared an attack, I activate Magician's Circle, which lets both of us special summon from our decks, a Spellcaster with 2000 attack or less."

"But I don't have any Spellcaster monsters."

"What a shame. I special summon the Magical Marionette in attack mode! (2000/1000) And I end my turn!" The hunter drew a card.

"I pass again." He growled. Tay drew a card and smirked.

"If you thought my Dark Magician was bad news, then I'm afraid it's about to get worse for you, hunter! I play Dedication through Light and Darkness, which gives my Citadel and Marionette each a Spell Counter (Magical Marionette 2200/1000) and then I can tribute my Dark Magician and special summon the Dark Magician of Chaos from my deck!" Dark Magician disappeared and the new magician appeared in his place.

"What?! No, not him!"

"Now Dark Magician of Chaos, attack his Levia-Dragon!" The magician twirled his staff in the air before crashing it to the ground, sending a blast at Daedalus and destroying it.

Hunter: 500 LP

"Now to finish this, Magical Marionette attack his life points directly!" The marionette moved the doll it controlled and sent it towards the hunter, making it slash him and dropping his life points.

Hunter: 0 LP LOSE

"Nooooooo!" The other hunters took off while the leader of the group fell to his knees. The holograms all disappeared and Tay walked towards him.

"I'll be taking your locator card now." Tay said as he picked up the Locator Card that the hunter dropped. "And don't go bullying weak and defenseless kids again!" Tay started to walk off, but stopped when he suddenly felt a chill of evil.

'What is this feeling?' He spun around on his heel and saw the hunter standing there, but his eyes were completely lifeless and he had the Millennium Symbol on his forehead.

"Hello there, Tay." The hunter said, but his voice was deeper and more demonic sounding now.

"What's going on? Who are you?"

"I am the leader of the Rare Hunters, you can call me Marik."

"Are you the evil that Ishizu warned us about? Why don't you stop hiding behind your hunters and show yourself!"

"Oh I will, in due time. But for now, know this, while my main target may be little Yugi and his Millennium Puzzle, I'll be coming after you and your sister's rare cards and items as well!"

"You leave my sister out of this!" Tay's anger caused a spark within his Millennium Sun and it activated. The faint glow of the Millennium symbol appeared on his forehead as he stared down the Rare Hunter. Suddenly, Tay could see the dark aura surrounding the hunter and saw a menacing and demonic figure above him.

"What the? Is that you Marik?!"

"Hahaha, while your Millennium Sun may be able to perceive my control of others, you're still weak and inexperienced in using it; you are no match for me and my Millennium Rod. So for now, feel lucky that you won, because next time, I'll be coming for you!" And with that, the hunter dropped to ground, lifeless. Tay stood there, shaking in fear.

'What was up with that? Marik? He felt...so evil, so dark. Kori, please be safe!'

Meanwhile, Kori was making her way to the meeting spot that she and the others had agreed upon. She was stomping her way there, annoyed while Marina walked just a few paces behind, constantly looking back at Duke who was happily following the girls and eying Kori.

"I think he likes you." Marina pointed out.

"And I think he's an annoying playboy." Kori replied abruptly.

"You may say that, but the blush in your face says otherwise." Kori suddenly stopped and got all flustered, flailing her arms about.

"Wha-what are you saying?! I would never like an arrogant playboy like him!" Duke suddenly appeared behind the girls.

"Talking about me, ladies?"

"Yeah right." Kori scoffed. "Who would be talking about you?" She stormed off while Duke followed after.

"So where are we headed?"

"Stop following me!"

Marina laughed at the two.

As they approached the meeting place, they saw Yugi and Mai already standing there.

"Hey Yugi, Mai!" Kori called out.

"Look, it's Kori and Marina." Yugi started. "And is that Duke?"

"Hey Yugi, what's going on?" Duke asked as he, Kori, and Marina approached him and Mai.

"Not much. What's going on with you? What are you doing with Kori and Marina?"

"We ran into some trouble with the first guy Kori beat and Duke showed up to help us out." Marina explained happily while Kori looked really annoyed.

"Even though we never asked for his help."

"So does that mean you're still in the tournament, Kori?" Yugi asked.

"But of course." Mai said in a matter-of-fact tone. "She does use a Harpie deck after all."

"Hey, everyone." Tay called out as he ran up to them. Marina got excited after seeing him approach.

"Tay's here!" Kori ran up to meet him half way with a high five.

"Hey guys, I take it you're all still in the tournament?"

"You know it!" Kori gave him a victory sign. "Your sis won't be taken down that easily. I'm going all the way to the top!" Tay smiled before noticing Duke and gave him a questioning look.

"Who are you?"

"This is Duke Devlin, he says he's in your homeroom class. He helped me and Kori with some gang members that didn't take losing very well."

"Is that so? Well thanks for looking out for my sister."

"Not a problem." Duke gave him a thumbs up.

"So where's Joey?"

"That slacker should've been here 10 minutes ago!" Mai frowned. "I've got duels to win!"

"Here he comes now." Yugi pointed out.

"Hey guys, long time no see!" Joey ran up to Mai and gave her a high five.

"Still in the tournament, Wheeler?"

"You bet! I'm already the proud owner of two locator cards!"

"Then I guess I'm twice as good." Mai taunted as she held up four of the clear cards.

"What?! You got four locator cards?!"

"Awesome job Mai!" Yugi congratulated her as all of the duelists held out their locator cards. "I've got three so far."

Kori and Tay looked at their two cards in comparison to Mai and Yugi.

"Aw man, I got the same amount as Joey." Kori whined.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing." Kori waved it off.

"Don't worry you guys." Yugi spoke to Joey, Tay, and Kori. "There's still plenty of time. You need a total of six locator cards to make it to the finals and I know you guys can do it!"

"Well none of us are gonna get to the finals if we're standing around here." Mai made a point.

"Mai's right." Joey said. "Watch out, because I'm about to do some serious catching up."

"Good luck and miss be boys." Mai blew a kiss as she and Joey took off in opposite directions. Yugi started walking away, but Tay stopped him.

"Wait, Yugi. Hang on a second. I need to talk to you."

"Sure Tay, what is it?"

"Kori, this involves you too, so come on over. You guys know those rare hunters?"

"You mean those caped creeps that've been terrorizing the duelists all over Battle City?" Kori asked.

"Yeah. Well I just dueled one and after I beat him, it was like someone took over his mind!"

"What?! No way!" Marina gasped.

"The same thing happened to me, Tay." Yugi started. "In both of the duels I've had so far, after I beat them, a guy named Marik took over their minds to speak to me using the power of his Millennium Rod. For some reason he's after my Millennium Puzzle."

"Why would he be after that?" Kori questioned.

"That's not all he's after." Tay chimed in. "He told me that he wanted our rarest cards and our items. Something about making sure we don't get in his way."

"So, does that meant those guys in the cloaks are gonna be coming after us?" Marina looked worried.

"Probably. But there's still more. I used the power of my Millennium Sun to see his true nature, but all I could see was a black void with some kind of demonic person in the middle of. It seems he's hell-bent on your destruction Yugi."

"Wow, this is getting much more serious than I thought. Thanks for telling me Tay. You guys be careful now." Yugi waved and left.

"You guys be on the lookout for anything strange too, this guy could have goons everywhere." Tay was about to leave but Marina stopped him.

"Hey, wait! I really don't think you should be going around alone right now; not after everything you just told us."

"So then what do you suggest, Marina?" Kori asked as a blush formed on her friend's face.

"I think I'll stick around with Tay for a while." This caused Tay to blush too.

"Huh? Are you sure Marina?" She nodded.

"Wait, then won't I be alone?" Duke appeared behind Kori and put his hand around her shoulder.

"Not quite. I'll be there protecting you."

"Oh, _you're _still here?" She was annoyed but sighed. "Fine whatever. Let's go."

The four parted ways and took off.


	6. Chapter 6: Fairies and Vampires!

**So here's the next chapter. This marks the halfway point of the chapters I already have typed up. Now in this chapter I tried to start writing some of the moments between the couples, and even though I try, I don't feel like I'm very good at it, so if you guys have any helpful suggestions, feel free to comment with advice. That being said, please review but no flaming. Enjoy.**

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"Why are you still following me?" Kori asked as she walked ahead.

"You heard your brother, it's not safe for you to be traveling around on your own. And I couldn't live with myself if I let anything happen to you."

"And how many times have you used that line?"

"Fair enough." Kori rolled her eyes.

"My point exactly. All you playboys are exactly the same; using the same pick-up lines all the time, always chasing after every girl you see, it's annoying."

"Bad experience in the past?"

"You can say that." Kori said as she sat down on a nearby bench.

"Well whatever happened in the past, you can't compare me to," Duke started, "Here. Let me get you something to drink." Duke walked over to a nearby vendor cart to grab some drinks and food.

'What's with this guy? We only just met and he's doing all these things for me.' Kori watched him for a moment, and for a split second, saw a red string shimmering in the light starting from herself and running over to Duke.

"What?!" Kori got flustered and started shaking her head, "No no no no no no no! That can't be true." Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a cloaked figure disappear around a corner.

"A Rare Hunter!" She looked back to Duke for a few seconds and contemplated something before taking off after the hunter.

"Hey you! Stop right there! I got you trapped!" Kori shouted at the Rare Hunter, who had walked into a dead-end.

"Hehehe, are you sure, Miss Ardent? Are you sure I'm not the one that trapped you?" another Rare Hunter appeared behind Kori and blocked her into the alley.

"Hahaha, now that I have you right where I want you, let's duel!" Both of them activated their duel disks and gained 4000 life points.

"Let's duel!"

Back at the park, Duke made his way back to the bench.

"Okay, so do you want the cola, or the citrus? Huh? Where'd she go?" Duke looked around but couldn't see Kori anywhere.

"I'll go first!" The hunter drew a card. "I'll summon Mokey Mokey in defense mode! (300/100) And then I play two cards face down and end my turn!"

"Is that supposed to be a monster or a pillow with wings?" Kori taunted before drawing a card. "Sweet! First I play Harpie's Hunting Ground! This will increase the attack and defense of all of my winged-beast monsters by 200. And I'm summoning Harpie Channeler in attack mode! (1600/1500) Now I'll activate her effect; by discarding a Harpie from my hand, I can bring out any Harpie from my deck. And I chose the Harpie's Pet Dragon! (2300/2800) Now Channeler attack that pillow!" Channeler fired a gust of wind at Mokey Mokey, destroying it.

"Now I activate my trap card; Human-Wave Tactics! During the end phase of every turn, I'll get to summon any number of level 1 or 2 normal monsters equal to the number of those destroyed!"

"Like that's going to help you! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack!" The dragon shot a fireball directly at the hunter.

Hunter: 1700 LP

"Go on and make your move!"

"Before I do that, thanks to Human-Wave Tactics, I summon Happy Lover in attack mode! (800/500)"

"What is this, a duel or a little girl's story book?"

"Ha, very funny. But you won't be laughing for long," the hunter drew a card, "Now I'll summon another Mokey Mokey in attack mode. (300/100) Then I activate Mokey Mokey Smack down. Now whenever a Fairy-type monster is ūudestroyed while Mokey Mokey is face-up on my field, Mokey Mokey's attack becomes 3000 until the end phase. Now Happy Lover, attack Harpie Channeler!"

"No Channeler, don't attack!"

"Too late!" Harpie Channeler destroyed the attacking Happy Lover.

Hunter: 900 LP

Mokey Mokey's attack points became 3000.

"Now Mokey Mokey, attack and destroy her pet dragon!" Mokey Mokey turned red with angry and slapped Harpie's Pet Dragon until it was destroyed.

Kori: 3300 LP

"Then I activate Mystik Wok and tribute Mokey Mokey to gain life points equal to his attack!" Mokey Mokey disappeared in a wok and then the wok dumped its contents over the Rare Hunter, increasing his life points.

Hunter: 3900 LP

"Then because of Human-Wave Tactics, I special summon Haniwa in defense mode. (500/500) And that's it for my turn." Kori drew a card.

"I play Lightning Vortex! I discard one card from my and destroy all of your face-up monsters. So say good-bye to Haniwa! And now that you're wide open, Harpie Channeler attack!" Channeler fired a blast of wind at the hunter.

Hunter: 2300 LP

"And then I'll set a card and end my turn." Due to Human-Wave Tactics, the hunter summoned another Happy Lover in defense mode. (800/500) He then drew a card.

"I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Then I activate Dark Factory of Mass Production to bring back my two Mokey Mokeys into my hand. Next, I'll activate Polymerization to fuse the three Mokey Mokeys in my hand."

"I don't think so! I activate Magic Jammer by discarding a card to negate our spell card and destroy it!"

"Damnit!" In that case, I'll summon a Mokey Mokey in attack mode. (300/100) Now Happy Lover attack Harpie Channeler!" Harpie Channeler destroyed the attacking monster.

Hunter: 1500 LP

"Now, Mokey Mokey, with your new attack power. Destroy her Harpie Channeler!" Mokey Mokey slapped Channeler and destroyed her.

Kori: 1900 LP

"Now I summon another Happy Lover in defense position. (800/500) Your turn. Miss Ardent." Kori drew a card.

"I summon Harpie Queen in attack mode! (2100/1400) And this time, I'm activating the effect of Harpie's Hunting Ground!"

"What?! It can do more?"

"Yep! I didn't think I would need to use it before, but now I'm gonna! Since I summoned Harpie Queen, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field! And I'm targeting your Mokey Mokey Smack down!" Mokey Mokey Smack down shattered.

"No, my strategy's ruined!"

"Yep! Now Harpie Queen attacks Mokey Mokey!" The queen flew forward and slashed Mokey Mokey.

Hunter: 0 LP LOSE

"You lose, hunter!" The holograms disappeared and the hunter fell to his knees, "Now hand over your two locator cards."

Kori walked over to him and snatched away the two cards before suddenly started screaming.

"No, please no! Master don't do it! Nooooooo!" The Millennium symbol suddenly appeared on his forehead and he fell to the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" The second rare hunter started approaching her from behind and was about to pounce when Duke suddenly appeared and punched him

"Oh no you don't creep!"

"Huh? Duke?"

"Why did you run off on your own?!" Duke scolded her.

"Well, I-"

"You know how dangerous it is to go off on your own! You made me worry."

"You were worried about me?"

"Uh, well, not that much," Duke said, trying to wave it off, "Just, let me know before you go running off." Kori smiled a bit before realizing what she was doing.

"Well sorry, I didn't realize I needed mommy's permission to duel." She pushed past him.

"So how did the duel go?" Kori smirked before holding up her four locator cards.

"How do you think? Two more to go!"

"Awesome!"

While this was going on, on the other side of town, Marina and Tay searched for an opponent.

"Man, my feet are killing me. It feels like we've been walking for hours!" Marina groaned. Tay chuckled.

"It's only been about half an hour." Tay looked back at Marina who was pouting and glaring at him like a little kid. Tay sweat dropped.

"Um, but I guess if you wanna rest, we can."

"Yay!" Marina exclaimed and ran over to a bench. Tay followed after her and sat down next to her. The both sat there in awkward silence, blushing for bit, before Tay broke the silence.

"So, uh, you enjoying the tournament so far?" She nodded.

"Yep. It was great seeing Kori kick that thug's ass and even cooler seeing the monster holograms in person. I just can't wait to see you duel though."

"Oh, well, um, next duelist we see, I'll challenge them. I need to get moving anyway; I only have two locator cards and still need four more."

"Let's just hope that it's not one of those rare hunters. I mean, I know you beat one already, but I don't like the idea of you or Kori dueling against those guys; they're dangerous." Tay patted her on the head and gave a warm smile.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright." Marina blushed.

"Yo, love birds!" The two were startled and quickly backed away from each other. A girl with pink hair tied into two long pigtails approached them. She wore a yellow halter top that showed her navel, light denim jeans, and yellow flip-flops.

"What do _you_ want?" Marina questioned fiercely.

"Not you." She pointed at Tay. "I want you, handsome. I'm guessing by the duel disk that you're in the Battle City tournament." Tay nodded.

"Yes I am. Why do you ask? Are in the tournament too? Are you challenging me?"

Marina leaned in closer to Tay, but kept her glare on the girl.

"Do it. Take this floozy down." She whispered.

"No, not me. I'm not in the tournament."

"Then leave!" Marina snarled. The girl gave her a glare.

"_I'm _not in the tournament, but my friend is." She gestures to her friend that was standing a distance away from them. It was a girl with a bored expression with short black hair. She wore a black Goth Lolita-style dress with white trim and bows and black boots.

"That's Chloe and I'm Rose." The girl said, winking at Tay. "So you up for a duel, big guy?" Tay was flustered while Rose smiled alluringly. Marina looked back and forth between the two of them before angrily elbowing Tay in the gut.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great!" Rose called her friend over.

"Hey there, my name's Tay. How many locator cards did you want to wager?"

"My name is Chloe," the girl said quietly; she looked like she was about to fall asleep at any second, "and I'll wager one of my locator cards." She activated her duel disk and gained 4000 life points

"Very well then, Chloe. I'll also wager one of my locator cards." Tay activated his duel disk and gained 4000 life points.

"Alright! Go Chloe!" Rose cheered. "But Tay, cutie, don't feel too bad when you lose. I'll go on a date with you after Chloe wins!"

Marina shot up angrily out of her seat.

"As if! There's no way he'd go out with girl like you! Tay, take that goth girl down!" Tay laughed awkwardly and sweat dropped.

"Anyway, Chloe, I'll let you go first." Chloe drew a card.

"I'll summon Zombie Werewolf in attack mode (1200/1200), then set a card, and end my turn." Tay drew a card.

'All right! I got the Dark Magician on my first hand. Now I just need to get him out there on the field.'

"First I set a card face down, and then I summon Mythical Beast Cerberus is attack mode! (1400/1400) Now I'll attack your Werewolf with my Cerberus!" Cerberus jumped forward and pounced on Zombie Werewolf, destroying it.

Chloe: 3800 LP

"Thanks to Zombie Werewolf's effect, I can special summon another one from my deck in attack mode with 500 extra attack points. (1700/1200)"

"Ok Chloe, your turn."

"Woohoo! Go Tay!" Marina cheered over-enthusiastically. Chloe drew a card.

"I now summon Vampire Bat in attack mode. (800/1200) As long as Vampire Bat is one the field, all zombie-type monsters I control gain 200 attack. (Vampire Bat 1000/1200) (Zombie Werewolf 1900/1200) Now Zombie Werewolf attacks your Cerberus." The werewolf attacked Cerberus and destroyed it.

Tay: 3500 LP

"Now Vampire Bat attack you directly." Vampire Bat flew at Tay and bit him.

Tay: 2500 LP

"Way to play Chloe! Tay, don't worry. After this duel I'll kiss that bite and make it better." Rose stuck her tongue out at Marina, whose response was to just stomp on Rose's foot.

"Don't worry Tay, you can turn this around." Marina cheered while Rose held her foot in pain.

"You may go now." Chloe said. Tay drew a card.

"I activate the trap card, Pitch-Black Power Stone, which holds 3 Spell Counters fro me to use later. Then I play the Swords of Revealing Light to keep you from attacking for three turns. And that's it for now." Chloe drew a card.

"I activate the field spell Infernalvania." The field became shrouded in a blood red mist and surround in a forest at night under a blood red moon. "With this, I can discard one zombie monster each turn to destroy all monsters on the field. But since I can't do anything else, I'll end my turn." Tay drew a card.

"I'll summon Magician's Valkyria in attack mode! (1600/1800) But she won't be here for long. Because I activate Magical Dimension!" Magician's Valkyria disappeared into a coffin and re-emerged from it as Dark Magician. (2500/2100) This one however, was different then the last. It had pale blue skin with blond hair and blue armor with red trim.

"Now Dark Magician, destroy her Vampire Bat!" The magician cast a spell and destroyed the bat. (Zombie Werewolf 1700/1200)

Chloe: 2500 LP

"And that's it for now." Chloe drew a card.

"Zombie Werewolf switches to defense mode, and I set a monster face down. Your turn."

"Go Chloe! You can take him!" Rose cheered. Marina growled.

"She didn't even do anything!" Rose glared back at her. Tay drew a card.

"I tribute my Dark Magician and summon the Dark Red Enchanter in his place. (1700/2200) When he's summoned he gets two Spell Counters that raise his attack by 300 each. (2300/2200) But I'll also move one Spell Counter from my power stone to my enchanter. (2600/2200) But I'm not done yet. I play Spell Power Grasp so that I can add another counter to my enchanter and then since he gains a counter for every spell card played, he even gets another one! (3200/2200) Now destroy her face down monster." Dark Red Enchanter launched an attack and destroyed the face down Vampire Bat, "Take you turn Chloe." She drew a card.

"I sacrifice my Zombie Werewolf in order to summon my Vampire Lord in attack mode. (2000/1500) But then I remove him from play in order to special summon Vampire Genesis in defense mode. (3000/2100) And that's it for now."

"Whoa, and I thought Rose was ugly," Marina said in awe.

"What was that?!" Rose glared at her. Tay drew a card.

"I summon the Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode. (1900/1700) And I'll move a Spell Counter from my stone to my skilled magician. Now Dark Red Enchanter, destroy her Vampire Genesis." Dark Red Enchanter fired a blast of energy from his staff and destroyed Vampire Genesis, "And now Skilled Dark Magician will attack you directly. You can go now Chloe."

Chloe: 600 LP

She drew a card and looked at her hand, trying to find something to do. She dropped her arms to her sides.

"There are no more moves I can make. You've destroyed my best monster. Take your turn and finish me off."

"Sorry about this Chloe," Tay said as he drew his last card, "Skilled Dark Magician, attack!" The magician sent a blast of energy at Chloe, depleting her life points.

Chloe: 0 LP LOSE

Chloe gave a faint smile before walking over and handing Tay her locator card and Vampire Genesis.

"No. I won't be taking your Vampire Genesis." Tay took her locator card, but pushed her Vampire Genesis back to her.

"But you won it fair and square. According to the rules, you get my rarest card."

"I'm playing by my own rules. You keep it."

"Thank you."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" Rose shouted. Tay and Chloe turned and saw her and Marina getting into a physical altercation.

"You heard me, you tramp!"

"That's it!" Rose jumped back, "Chloe, lend me your duel disk!" Chloe didn't question her friend. She just removed her deck and passed her duel disk over to Rose.

"Marina! We'll settle this in a duel!" She pointed right at the brunette girl who just looked confused.


	7. Chapter 7: Play Time is Over

**I am so sorry for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. The end of the semester is approaching and I have been swamped by finals and end of the semester assignments. So I found some time to edit this chapter real quickly and get it uploaded. I have another week and a half before the semester ends and then I'll be out on summer break, and then I can update more productively. As always, please review but no flaming.**

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"Let's duel Marina!" Rose challenged.

"What? Me?" Marina pointed at herself, looking around confused.

"Yeah you! Unless you're too scared!"

"You're on!" Marina replied fiercely. "Tay! Hand me your duel disk!"

"C'mon Marina. There has to be another way to settle this."

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay." Tay backed down, handing his duel disk over to Marina.

"Let's do this!" The two girls shouted as they activated the duel disks and gained 4000 life points. Chloe and Tay watched from the sidelines as Rose drew a card.

"I'll go first. And I summon Alice the Wandering Doll in defense mode. (300/100) Next I set 2 cards face down and then activate Cursed Doll House to finish things off." Marina drew a card.

"Still playing with dolls? Aren't you a little old for that? First I lay two cards face down, and summon Dunames Dark Witch in attack mode. (1800/1050) And now I'll attack your little doll over there." Dunames Dark Witch fired blasts of energy from her hand, but they passed right through Alice.

"What happened?"

"Sorry. Did I forget to mention? Alice can't be destroyed by battle. Oh and whenever she's selected as an attack target, you take 500 points of damage!"

Marina: 3500 LP

"And now she switches over to your side of the field." Alice walked over next to Dunames Dark Witch and resumed her defense stance.

"Why would you give me your own monster?"

"Because since you now have control of Alice, Cursed Doll House lets me summon this, Doll Part Blue (0/0) in attack mode." A doll head that was falling apart appeared.

"Okay, that thing is just creepy." Marina shuddered. "I end my turn." Rose drew a card.

"Now I summon Doll Part Gold (0/0) and I'll have it attack your Dunames Dark Witch!"

"What? Why?" Rose just smirked. The crumbling doll arms floated towards Dunames Dark Witch, but the witch destroyed it.

Rose: 2200 LP

"Now I activate Necro Dollmeister to summon Doll Part Red (0/0) and Doll Part Pink (0/0) from my deck in defense mode. And now I play Soul Resurrection in order to resurrect Doll Part Gold from the Graveyard. Now Doll Part Blue, attack Alice!" The doll head floated over to Alice and screamed in her face, but Alice just hit the doll head back.

Rose: 1200 LP

"Now because of Alice's effect, I take damage to my life points, but now she returns to my field."

Rose: 700 LP

"What's with this strategy? All you're doing is causing damage to yourself?" Marina asked.

"What's the matter, can't figure it out? Well that's fine, because I'll just show you! I play Marionette Burial and send all of my Doll Parts to my graveyard in order to call Doll Chimera (0/0) to this play date in attack mode! And this doll gains 400 attack for every Doll Part in my graveyard, so she gets powered up. (1600/0) Your move." Marina drew a card.

"Are you trying beat me in a duel or give me nightmares? Now my dark witch, destroy that...thing!" Dunames Dark Witch charged and attack and destroyed Doll Chimera.

Rose: 500 LP

"That's just what I was hoping you'd do. By sending two Doll Parts from my deck to my graveyard, I can bring Doll Chimera back in attack mode. (2400/0)"

"Whatever, just take your turn." Rose drew a card.

"I play Doll Hammer to destroy Doll Chimera and draw two cards. And I think I'll bring her back again by sending two more Doll Part cards to the graveyard. So welcome back, Doll Chimera! (3200/0) Now destroy her witch!" The chimera crawled over to Dunames Dark Witch and grabbed her, crushing her to pieces. Marina growled and glared at Rose as her life points fell.

Marina: 2100 LP

"Then I'll set a card and end my turn." Marina drew a card.

"First I play one card face down and activate Swords of Revealing Light to protect me for three turns. Then I activate Beckoning Light, which makes me discard my entire hand to the graveyard, but then I get to bring the same number of Light monsters from my graveyard back to my hand. Now I'll play Dunames Dark Witch again, but in defense mode. (1800/1050) And call it quits for now." Rose drew a card.

"I activate Door to Mirror Land, which lets me Special Summon Eshila the Bisque Doll (1000/300) in attack mode!"

"I don't think so! I activate Solemn Judgment! Now by paying half of my life point, I can negate that summon and destroy Eshila!"

Marina: 1050 LP

"What? Fine then, I'll just end my turn." Marina drew a card and smirked.

"Time to end this! I tribute Dunames Dark Witch and summon The Agent of Judgment- Saturn! (2400/0)"

"And what's that purple freak supposed to do? He's not strong enough to take out my chimera!"

"I never said I was attacking. First I play the Sanctuary in the Sky field spell! Then I activate Saturn's effect. Since I have more life points than you, and since Sanctuary in the Sky is out, I can tribute Saturn and deal you direct damage equal to the difference!"

"Wait, but that means!" Saturn vanished and became a ball of energy with a ring around it and went flying at Rose, striking her and knocking her down.

Rose: 0 LP LOSE

"And that's game!"

"What?! I lost? How can this happen?" Rose quickly got up and stormed off.

"Sorry for the trouble Rose had caused." Chloe apologized. "Good luck with the rest of the tournament." Chloe left after Rose.

"Nice job, Marina." Tay said as he retrieved his duel disk from his friend. "You've gotten better since the last time I saw you duel."

"Thanks. Someone had to teach that brat a lesson. But was even cooler was your duel against Chloe. Now you have three locator cards! Next duel you can bet all three and get straight into the finals!"

"I don't know if it'll be that easy. I mean, we still have all those rare hunters and that creep Marik to deal with."

"You're right, we still need to be more careful. But for now, let's go search for the next challenge, but no dolls this time." Marina grabbed her shoulders and shuddered.

"Yeah, good point. Those things were kind of creepy."

As the two laughed and walked away, a rare hunter watched them, ready to pounce on his prey.

"Hey, why don't we take a break for a bit? I wanna check out some of the stores nearby." Marina asked as they walked past a strip mall.

"Sure. What store did you have in mind?'

"Let's start at that store over there! The Domino City guide I bought before coming here says that that store has great clothes. C'mon let's go!"

Marina rushed into the store, dragging Tay behind her.

"Hey, would you hold on a sec? That arm's attached you know."

"Whoops, sorry. But just look at all these cute clothes! I've died and gone to heaven."

"Some people never change. You loved to do all those dress-up shows as a kid, and now you love anything involving fashion."

"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Marina asked as she looked through piles and racks of clothing, tossing anything she showed any interest in back into Tay's arms. After failing to get a response, Marina turned back.

"Tay?" All she saw was an arm sticking out of a huge pile of clothing.

"Ah! Sorry!" She reached in and pulled him out.

"Geez, do you really need to try on so many clothes?"

"You can never have enough new clothes." Marina was suddenly very serious. Tay sweat dropped.

They moved back to changing the rooms, Tay still holding the large pile of clothes.

"Okay, so I'll go in and try on this new outfit and then come out to see what you think. Then you'll hand me a new outfit to change into, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Marina ducked into the changing room, drawing the curtain behind her.

"No peeking now. You promise?"

"Uh huh, sure." Tay was less than amused. From the other end of the store, a rare hunter watched.

The curtain was flung open and Marina stepped out of the booth, twirling around in a pure white sun dress with lace decorations.

"Well, what do you think?" Tay was speechless; he was too distracted by the sight to say anything.

"Um, hello? Earth to Tay." Marina waved her hand in front of his face.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. It looks really good on you." He was trying to hide his blush.

"Really? Thanks! On to the next outfit please." She took a random dress out of the pile and went back into the dressing room, closing the curtain again.

"Excuse me young man?" A short elderly woman tugged on Tay's sleeve.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Actually you can. Could you possibly come reach a bag for me? It's up too high for me to reach."

"Of course. One moment." Tay put the pile of clothes down and followed the woman away.

Taking this chance, the rare hunter approached the dressing room, where Marina had just stepped out, back in her usual clothes.

"This one didn't fit right, let's go get a different size. Huh? Tay? Where'd you go?

"Hahaha! Lost, little girl?" Marina spun around and saw the rare hunter. But before she could react, he placed a cloth over her face and she was knocked out. The hunter dragged her out the back entrance to the store, dropping a note on top of the clothing pile.

Tay returned to the dressing rooms and saw the curtain wide open, but didn't see Marina anywhere. It was then that he noticed the note on the pile. He snatched it up and read it.

"What?! No way?!" He was out the door in a second and ran to the nearby building designated in the note. Climbing the stairs, he exited onto the roof and saw the rare hunter waiting for him.

"Where's Marina?!"

"Why, she's right behind you, Mr. Ardent." the hunter chuckled and pointed.

Tay turned and saw a large crane holding up an unconscious Marina, and dangling over the edge of the building!

"Marina!" Tay went to run over to her but the hunter stopped him.

"Uh uh uh." The hunter waved his finger back and forth. "One more step and I press this button, releasing the girl." He held up a small box with a button on it.

"What do you want?!"

"A duel, obviously. If you want the girl back, you have to defeat me. But if you lose, both of you will fall into the Shadow Realm!"

"Fine then!" Tay and the Hunter activated their duel disks and gained 4000 life points, "How many Locator Cards do you have?!"

"I've got three."

"Good! Then that's how many we'll wager, and the winner will go straight to the finals!"

'Don't worry Marina. I'll get you down from there.' The hunter drew a card.

"My move first! And I summon Golem Sentry in defense mode! (800/1800) Then I'll set a card and end my turn." Tay drew a card.

"I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600/1000); whenever he's summoned, he gets a Spell Counter that raises his attack power! (1900/1000) Now attack his Sentry!" Breaker slashed the Golem Sentry and it crumbled to pieces.

"And then I'll set a card. Take your turn, hunter!" The hunter drew a card.

"I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. And then I'll summon Don Zaloog in attack mode! (1400/1500) And since he's on the field, I can activate Mustering of the Dark Scorpions and special summon all of these monsters from my hand! Chick the Yellow (1000/1000), Meanae the Thorn (1000/1800) Gorg the Strong (1800/1500), and Cliff the Trap Remover (1200/1000) all in attack mode. Now I activate Dark Scorpion Combination, which let's all of my Dark Scorpion monsters to attack you directly as long as I decrease their attack to 400 for this turn!" All of the hunter's monsters took their turns in attacking Tay.

Tay: 2000 LP

"And now all of their effects activate! First, Breaker is returned to the top of your deck, then I return your face down card to your hand. Next, the Breaker on the top of your deck is sent the graveyard, and then I can return any Dark Scorpion card from my graveyard to my hand. Then I'll set two cards face down and that's it for now." Tay drew a card.

"I'm going to finish this quickly! First I summon Blast Magician in attack mode! (1400/1700) But now I play Magical Dimension to bring out the Dark Magician Girl! (2000/1700)" Blast Magician disappeared into the coffin and Dark Magician Girl stepped out, "Next, I'll activate Sage's Stone, to call Dark Magician from my deck! (2500/2100) I'll set a card face down, then attack! Dark Magician, take out Cliff and Dark Magician Girl, attack Gorg!" The two magicians unleashed their attacks and destroyed the Dark Scorpion monsters.

Hunter: 2300 LP

'I have to finish this quickly and get Marina down from there!'

"Make your move!" Tay had a fierce look of determination as he glared at the hunter. He drew a card.

"Geez, lighten up kid."

"I'm activating my Spellbinding Circle!" Tay quickly said, not even giving the hunter the chance to think of his move, "And with this, I trap you're Don Zaloog from changing battle positions or attacking!"

"Well someone's impatient." The hunter teased. "I activate Dark Scorpion- Tragedy of Love! By sacrificing Meanae, I can destroy every monster on your field!" In a flurry of rose petals, both magicians were destroyed, "And that's it for now." Tay drew a card.

"I'll set a card face down and end my turn." The hunter drew a card.

"I'll pass this turn." Tay drew a card.

"I play the card Monster Reborn, and I'll bring back my Dark Magician!" The black-armored Dark Magician reappeared on the field. "Now attack his Don Zaloog!" Dark Magician attacked and destroyed his monster.

Hunter: 1200 LP

"Your turn! And make it count, because it will be your last!" The hunter drew a card and scowled. "What's wrong, you didn't get a good card?"

"What's it to ya? I set a card face down and end my turn." Tay drew a card.

"Well I warned you. That was your last turn, because now Dark Magician attacks you directly!" Dark Magician fired several magical blasts directed at the hunter.

Hunter: 0 LP LOSE

"Now release Marina and hand over your Locator Cards!"

The Millennium symbol appeared on the hunter's forehead and on Tay's forehead.

"Well done Tay, you've beaten one of my better Rare Hunters!"

"Marik! I beat your Rare Hunter, now let my friend go!" Tay spoke to the dark figure that his Millennium Sun let him see behind the hunter.

"Very well. Take that control box over there and you will be able to bring her down." He gestured to the remote that the hunter had dropped.

Without taking his eyes off the figure, Tay slowly approached the control box and scooped it up. He moved the joy stick to swing the crane back over the roof top and lower Marina onto the floor. The second she touched down, Tay dashed over to her.

"Marina! Marina, please get up!" He shook her as she stirred in her sleep and her eyes fluttered open.

"Tay? What's going on?" She asked groggily. Tay just smiled at her as he untied her from the crane.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! How sweet!" Marik spoke through the hunter, drawing the attention of the two, "Well now Tay, it seems that you've also acquired all six locator cards needed to enter the finals. Congratulations, I look forward to sending you to the Shadow Realm! You, your sister, and little Yugi!" He laughed maniacally before the hunter's body dropped dead.

"Tay, what just happened?"

"I'll explain later. For now, let's just get you down from here."


	8. Chapter 8: Does it bug you?

**Okay, so first let me apologize for the _insanely_****bad title of this chapter, I was running low on ideas. And also sorry for the long wait in between chapters, I've been busy with other side projects and family things, well that and my interest in this started falling, but I'll continue to post the chapters that I already have typed out and then I'll see if I feel up to continuing this by then or not. Another thing, does it feel like I'm trying to hard with the moments between Tay and Marina and between Duke and Kori? Please review but nothing negative.**

* * *

Kori and Duke had stopped their search for an opponent so that Kori could take a call from Tay on her cell. He was telling her about the duel he just had against the rare hunter and what had happened to Marina.

"Wow, so you have all six locator cards now?! Damn, I gotta get my ass in gear and find my last opponent. So you sure Marina's okay?"

"Yeah, we stopped at a nearby clinic just make sure and she checked out fine." Tay said on the other end of the line.

"Oh man, I wish I was there! That creep would've gotten what he deserved for messing with my friend!"

"Well I think Marik took care of that for you."

"Well the next rare hunter I see, I swear, I'll take them down in a flash! Well I gotta get going; I need to find some rare hunter ass to kick. See you at the finals."

"See ya." Tay said as he hung up. Kori hung up and Duke walked over to her.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, my brother has all six locator cards now and he met up with Mai; she also has all six, so I have to catch up now! Odds are that Yugi already has all six by now too, and maybe even Joey. I can't fall too far behind, so I gotta get my deck in gear!"

Kori marched up but soon froze in her tracks.

"Eeeeeeek!" She stumbled back into Duke.

"Whoa, what's wrong?"

"Kill it! Kill it!" She flailed her arms, pointing at a caterpillar that had crossed in front of her on the walk way.

"Seriously? Don't tell me you're scared of a little caterpillar? That's actually kind of cute." Duke playfully teased.

"I don't care! Just get rid of it!"

Duke walked over to the caterpillar and scooped it up, placing on a nearby tree branch.

"I can't believe you're afraid of bugs."

"Sh-shut up! They're creepy and crawly and just plain disgusting!" Kori was flustered and shivered in disgust. Duke just laughed.

Nearby, a young woman in a purple cloak sipped her drink as she watched Kori. She smirked.

"So she's afraid of bugs, huh? This will be easy."

A few minutes later, Kori was speed-walking through the forest while Duke tried to keep.

"Would you slow down? Where's the fire?"

"No fire, just bugs, tons and tons of bugs! This is why I don't like the forest! KYA! What was that?!"

"That would be a leaf that brushed up against your leg." Kori spun around.

"Shut up! You're just enjoying this aren't you?!"

"Well actually a little, yes."

A bee suddenly buzzed by, causing Kori to yelp and jump into Duke's arms. He smirked.

"Are you sure you're not just faking this for an excuse to get in my arms?" Kori realized what she was doing, blushed, and pushed Duke away.

"As if! Don't flatter yourself pretty boy."

"So you _do _think I'm pretty." Kori grunted in frustration.

Out of nowhere, a swarm of bees surrounded the two. Kori started freaking out, looking everywhere to see bees on all sides.

"What's going on? Where'd all these bees come from?"

"I don't care! Just get me out of here!"

A woman's laughter caused the bees to disappear and drew Kori's attention to the cloaked figure that now stood before her.

'That cloak!'

"Are you a rare hunter?!"

"As a matter of fact I am; and welcome to my hive!" She activated her duel disk and gained 4000 life points.

"Alright, now you're speaking my language!" Kori activated her duel disk too. "We'll wager two Locator Cards. That way, when I beat you, I'll get into the finals!" The rare huntress drew a card.

"We'll see about that. I summon Prickle Fairy in defense mode! (300/2000) While she's face-up on the field, you can't attack any of my insects. And that's it!" Kori drew a card.

"Did you say insects?! Oh great. I play Lightning Vortex! I can discard 1 card and destroy every monster on your field." Prickle Fairy disappeared in a bolt of lightning. "And now I'll summon Harpie Channeler in attack mode (1400/1300) and set one card face down. Now Harpie Channeler, attack!"

Huntress: 2600

The huntress drew a card.

"I summon Pinch Hopper in attack mode! (1000/1200) Then I'll play Multiplication of Ants by sacrificing my Pinch Hopper and summon two Army Ant Tokens in its place! (500/500) And since Pinch Hopper was sent to the graveyard, I can special summon this from my hand, Insect Princess! (1900/1200)"

"Ew that's disgusting!"

"I would be more concerned about the duel than the insects. Now I play Insect Garden, which gives you control over all level four or lower insect monsters on my field." The Ant Tokens marched over to Kori's field as she started freaking out.

"Nononononono! Take them back! Take them back!"

"Kori, get your head in the game!" Duke called out. "They're just little bugs."

"Easy for you to say."

"And now I equip my Insect Princess with Insect Pheromones. With this, whenever my Insect Princess destroys one of your monsters, I can force one of your insect monsters to attack her. So now, Insect Princess, attack that Ant Token!" Insect Princess turned her arm into a whip and lashed at the ant.

Kori: 2600 LP

"And since my Insect Princess just destroyed another insect, she gains 500 attack! (2400/1200) Now I'll force your second ant into attacking!" The ant charged at Insect Princess, but shattered on contact.

Kori: 700 LP

"And now she gains another boost. (2900/1200) And that's it for now!" Kori drew a card.

"I switch Harpie Channeler into defense mode and summon Lady Ninja Yae in defense mode. (1100/200) And that's it for now!" The huntress drew a card.

"I summon Magical Longicorn in attack mode. (600/1600) And thanks to Insect Garden, it moves over to your field."

"Oh no it doesn't! Because I'm activating Icarus Attack! I tribute Harpie Channeler and destroy two of your cards. So say good-bye to your Insect Princess and Insect Garden!" Harpie Channeler dashed into the air and came swooping down at Insect Princess and the Insect Garden card, destroying them.

"What?! No! Fine then, Magical Longicorn attacks your ninja lady!" The bug ran over to Lady Ninja Yae and tossed her into the air, destroying her. Your move." Kori drew a card.

"First I summon Harpie Queen in attack mode. (1900/1200) And then I activate Call of the Haunted to bring back my Harpie Channeler. (1400/1300) Now Channeler, attack her Longicorn." Channeler sent a burst of wind at the beetle and destroyed it.

Huntress: 1800 LP

"And now to finish this! Harpie Queen attack her directly and secure my place in the finals!" Harpie Queen flew through the air as if she was dancing and slashed the huntress.

Huntress: 0 LP LOSE

"Oh yeah! Now I'm heading straight to the finals!" The holograms disappeared.

The huntress screamed as the Millennium symbol appeared on her forehead and she fell back. Duke and Kori stared at her for a few seconds before Duke ran over to her and picked up two Locator Cards.

"Here you go Kori, your last two locator cards. Now you're in the final 10 with your brother!" Kori took the cards from Duke.

"Thanks. And I think I got over my fear of bugs too!" A spider suddenly lowered itself down by its web and stopped right in front of Kori's face. She instantly froze up while Duke just laughed.

"C'mon, let's get out of this forest and head to the finals." He grabbed her hand and started leading her out. Kori looked down at Duke's hand over hers and blushed.

'What's with me? Getting all flustered all of a sudden? I-it must be the heat! Yeah, that's it, the heat.'

"You okay Kori? I wouldn't want anything to happen to my favorite girl." He winked at her.

"I am _not _your girl!" Kori stormed ahead. "My mind must've just been playing tricks on me."

After a few minutes of walking through the woods, Kori and Duke were back in town, on their way to the meeting place Kori arranged with Tay.

"So who else do you think made it to the finals?" Duke asked to pass the time.

"Well there's me, Tay, and Mai for sure." Kori started counting on her fingers. "There's no doubt that Yugi made it, and I bet that jerk Kaiba is in. I guess Joey could've made it, so that makes 6, who knows who the other 4 will be. But it doesn't matter, 'cuz I'm gonna take them all down, and that includes Yugi and my brother!"

"Well you're certainly confident. You sure you're up for the challenge?"

"Oh yeah, no doubt! Hey, what's going on over there?" Kori pointed to a tunnel up ahead where a group of rare hunters were surrounding two people.

"That's Tristan!" Duke exclaimed.

"And I think that girl is Joey's sister Serenity!"

"Hey, she's kinda cute." Duke said. Kori would never have admitted it, but she felt a spark of jealousy then irritation.

"You wanna stop looking for a girlfriend for just one second and actually go help them?"

"Right." Duke nodded. The two ran at the rare hunters.

Duke pulled out some dice and shot one at the forehead of the hunter that had a hold of Serenity.

"And there's more where that came from, tough guy." Duke stood at the entrance, Kori right next to him.

"What's going on Tristan?" Serenity panicked.

"Whoa! Is that Duke Devlin? And Kori? What's she doing with him?"

"The one and only!" Duke tossed his hand of dice at the hunters and pelted them in the face. Kori took advantage of their distraction and tackled one of them out of the way.

"Tristan, this way!" Kori called out.

Tristan helped Serenity up onto his back and followed Kori.

"All right Serenity, hang on!"

"So how ya been Tristan?" Duke asked casually as Tristan passed him.

"Talk later, run now!"

"Duh!" Kori shouted as she also ran past Duke, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along.

After the hunters recovered from their stun, they gave chase to the four.

The group hid in the bed of a truck and watched the hunters search in frustration.

"Where'd they go?"

"They must be close."

"Let's keep looking, they can't hide forever."

"We'll find you fools."

Tristan and Duke popped their heads out from inside the truck as the hunters split up again and ran off.

"Looks like they're the fools." Duke pointed out.

"Finally! A chance to catch our breath. And catch up while we're at it." Tristan started.

Serenity was huddled up in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Hey, it's Serenity, right? You're Joey's sister?" Kori tried to make small taklk to help calm her down.

"Yeah. And who are you, one of Joey's friends?"

'Well I wouldn't go that far, but it's probably not the best idea to tell her that.'

"Oh yeah, of course I am; me and my brother Tay. My name's Kori by the way."

"Tay? As in the one that helped Joey out the night he got attacked?"

"Yeah, that's my brother."

"Joey told me about him. I'm so glad Joey has such good friends that would do that for him."

"Yeah well, that's my brother for you. Usually he's always the deep thinker and prefers to use his brains, but whenever it comes to helping people, logic goes out the window."

"Will we be seeing your brother soon? I'd like to thank him for taking care of Joey."

"Hopefully."

"And that's how I ended up in the tunnel with Kori." Duke had just finished catching up with Tristan. Serenity suddenly had a thought; she got up and used the side of the truck to guide her over to Duke and Tristan.

"Hey guys! If those jerks are after us, does that mean?"

"Mean what?" Duke asked. Tristan grit his teeth.

"That they're after the others too. Joey, Téa, and Yugi may be in even more trouble than we are now."

After the coast was clear, they got out of the truck and continued looking for the others.

"I'm really worried about my brother, Tristan. Do you think he's okay?" Serenity was concerned.

"I'm sure he's fine, Serenity. He's probably on his way to the Battle City Finals right now."

"Unless the same thugs that attacked us got to him also." Duke suggested. Serenity stopped dead in her tracks and gasped.

"Oh no! My poor brother!" Tristan glared at Duke.

"Nice going! The next I need some words of encouragement, remind me not to call you."

Kori walked over to Duke and punched him in the arm.

"Ouch!" He rubbed the spot that she shit. Kori approached Serenity and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Serenity. I bet Joey's completely safe and already waiting for you at the finals."

"Then we have to find out where the finals are now! Kori, please, you gotta use your Locator Cards!" Tristan shouted.

"You don't need to tell me twice!" She activated her duel disk and pulled out the 6 clear cards. She was about to throw them on her duel disk, but she suddenly caught sight of the rare hunters from before who also caught sight of her.

"It's those caped creeps! And they spotted us!" Tristan grabbed Serenity's arm and started running.

"Run!"

They made it to a cross walk and Tristan stopped them.

"Wait a sec' guys!"

"Are you nuts? They'll catch us!" Duke interjected.

"Just take Serenity and run."

"But what about you?" Kori asked.

"I've got some unfinished business to attend to!" Tristan took off in the direction of the hunters. "Go on, move it!"

"We're moving!" Duke shouted back. Kori grabbed Serenity's hand and guided her across the street.

"C'mon Serenity, this way!"

They ran across the street and then were half way across the next one when a blue convertible suddenly stopped in front of them.

"Watch it! Cross on the green, not in between!" The driver shouted.

"Mai, Tay, Marina!" Kori shouted.

Behind the steering wheel was Mai Valentine, and Tay and Marina sat in the back seats. They all looked confused.

"Kori? What's going on?" Tay was concerned.

"We're being chased by some rare hunters! Tristan stayed behind to fight them off!"

"Get in!" Mai demanded. Serenity sat in the front passenger seat while Kori and Marina embarrassingly sat on Duke's and Tay's laps.

Mai floored the gas, driving back to where the others left Tristan.

"Any questions?" Tristan struggled between breathes, "If you goons haven't had enough; there's plenty more where that came from. Well?"

Tristan stepped up to the last hunter that hadn't been knocked out yet and grabbed him by the collar.

"Where are my friends you freak? Spill it now!"

"Do-domino Pier." the hunter replied weakly.

"They better be!"

Mai honked her horn and grabbed Tristan's attention.

"Hey Tristan, need a lift?" Mai's car screeched to a halt.

Within minutes, Mai was speeding down the road again.

"So what exactly are these rare hunters?" Tristan asked.

"Underground duelists that lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Which is probably why they kidnapped your friends," Mai answered.

"Yeah, they'll do anything to get what they want." Tay added, thinking back to what happened earlier with Marina.

"This isn't the way, turn around!" Tristan shouted.

"Sure it is, see?" Mai held out her locator cards. "I won six locator cards; I know where they are."

"They're not at the finals, Mai! They're at a pier on the other side of the city."

"Are you sure Tristan?"

"Yep, I got it straight for those creeps, so let's go!"

"Right! Hold on tight!" Mai slammed on her breaks and made a sharp turn down the parallel road. The sudden turn almost made Kori and Marina practically fall out of the car.

"Do _not _try this at home! We're coming to get you guys!" Mai was determined.

"Hey, careful Mai!" Tay shouted.

"Yeah you almost lost half of you passengers back here!" Marina added.

They sped down the street, heading straight for the pier.

"It's down there!" Tristan pointed out as they maneuvered their way through the multitude of warehouses.

"Time to crash this party!" Mai shouted.

"And save our friends!" Kori added. Serenity hung her head in fear.

"I'm scared guys." Tristan tried reassuring her.

"Everything's gonna be fine Serenity."

Mai smiled at the young girl next to her.

"Right! With me on your side, you can't lose Serenity! We'll get Joey out of here and pretty soon you'll be seeing him duel in the finals."

"Thanks Mai."

"Hey, something's going on over there." Duke pointed out.

"What the hell?!" Tay exclaimed. Kori was equally shocked.

"What kind of sick and twisted set up is this?!"

All Marina could do was gasp in horror.

Mai slammed on her brakes and her car came to a screeching halt. Everyone got up and ran over to the pier. Yugi and Joey were dueling. Yugi looked as if he was ready to pass out from exhaustion and had Joey's Red-Eyes out, looking as if would do the same. Joey, on the other hand, had an evil expression on his face and was wearing Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. Both of them were chained to an anchor suspended over the ocean. Téa sat on the dock next to them, strapped into some kind of chair with a crane dangling a huge crate above her head.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Tay shouted.


End file.
